Potter Files : The Sea of Monsters
by immortal6666
Summary: Sequel to Potter Files : The Lightning Thief. Iris returns to the land of Uncle Sam only to learn that Luke has stepped up his game. Is she ready for the challenges ahead or will the treacherous sea prove too much for her?
1. Prologue

**POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS**

Chapter 1 : Prologue

X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

X-X-X-X-X

This chapter will be in Iris' Pov unless stated otherwise.

X-X-X-X-X

My third year was finally over. While not to the level of my previous two years, a lot of weird things had happened in the year. First of the many was Trevor, Neville's toad going missing...permanently. It seemed the animals could scent the snake in me. It was a good thing that Trevor was already well known for his habit of running away.

After the welcome party I received, half of them fled when they finally realised that they were the prey. A pity. A consequence of that was the centaurs started refering to me for the forest matters. They told me of the burgeoning population of the acromantula colony which, while not as dire situation as dementors, could create problems in the future. Apparently, it was Hagrid's responsibility to oversee the ecosystem of the forest and keep the balance. While the man had a big heart, in a more than literal way, he, like many others, saw only what he wanted to see. He was not going to take any action against his old friend's brood.

At Hogwarts, I learned why dementors were roaming around the school. Apparently, a prisoner named Sirius Black, who was supposed to be Voldie's right hand man, gone to Azkaban for killing a wizard and 12 muggles with a single spell, had escaped Azkaban, the prison the Dementors were supposed to guard, and the Ministry, in their infinite wisdom, placed them around school to protect me.

Another thing that happened was Dumbledore offering to take me on as an apprentice and me accepting. He believed that it would be a good cover even though he would have offered it anyway considering my talent, just not too soon. It was not like there were not already rumours of that nature considering the ease with which I perform Transfiguration.

He also taught me the Patronus charm in case I had to fight them in the view of other wizards. The daggers could be passed off as family heirlooms but bow and arrows could not. I was very surprised to feel the familiar power signature when he showed me the spell. When I asked him about it, he was not very surprised. After all, when a spell involved a silver coloured animal as guardian, it was not hard to connect the dots. Dumbledore told me that most of the old and powerful spells involved invoking the power of the deities. After all, Fiendfyre invoked the power of the Norse demon lord Surtur. As with every ability related to my godly mother, I was natural at it. My patroni were as physical as Hedwig used to be and I was not restricted to a single animal. The headmaster believed that my Patroni could kill dementors.

I also understood what Thanatos meant when he said I would be given the details later-dreams.

First was of the Gaunt family living in a hovel in Little Hangleton. Well, they were not the type of people Salazar Slytherin would be proud to call his descendants. It showed the unjustified pride of the father and son and their foolish belief that they could get away with harassing muggles due to their 'purity' of blood. It also showed the daughter's infatuation with the son of the local lord, Tom Riddle. I also saw two artifacts that could be potential phylacteries, a ring and a locket, that were believed to be that of Salazar Slytherin.

Next dream showed, ironically, a pure blood lady who was referred to as "Mrs. Smith", her infatuation with Tom Riddle, rising dark lord ie, and her attempts to impress him. It was weird to see a fat middle aged woman acting like a school girl with a crush in front of a boy barely out of school. She showed him a beautiful goblet she claimed to be Hufflepuff's Cup, which could supposedly turn water to an elixir that could heal any injury. She talked to him about doing a deal without his employer's knowledge not noticing the malicious glint in his eyes. Three guesses what happened to her.

The next showed me an island in the middle of which was basin similar in appearance to the headmaster's pensieve. The basin emitted a greenish glow which I later learned was due to the liquid it contained. Suddenly, a man who looked like a younger version of Sirius Black popped in with an elf. From their talk, I learned that the man was Regulus and the elf was Kreacher. The man drank the entire potion albeit with difficulty since it seemed to cause him some kind of nightmarish delusions. He ordered the elf to escape with the locket and destroy it at any cost. The last thing I saw before waking up was the man lapping up the water from the lake desperately and some zombie- things coming out and dragging him down with them.

Next dream showed a pure blood lady walking along the entrance hall of Gringotts. She was tall, curly black hair that reached mid back, pale face, delicate eyebrows, long eyelashes and a figure that would make supermodels cry out in envy. While she was not as beautiful as Amphritite or Hecate, she was certainly beyond mortal level. It was only later that I learned that she was Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman who tortured Neville's parents until their mind broke. It went to show that physical beauty was not everything. I could almost hear my mother commenting about how boys would be too busy salivating over her body to see her character. I saw her go into a vault and place the cup on a pedestal. It was as if she considered the chalice more valuable than the vast amount of treasure surrounding it which, as much as I hated to admit it, was greater than mine.

Dumbledore and I first went to Little Hangleton to check out the hovel and found that it was heavily warded. He told me that the first ward ensured that only those who had seen the hovel before the ward was placed could find it. Demigod dreams and pensieve memories could bypass that restriction. The rest of the wards were not anything special. With my Parseltongue skills and Dumbledore's knowledge and experience, they were easily disabled. The headmaster warned me that Tom Riddle was young when he hid that horcrux and others might be more difficult. The one noteworthy ward among them was a variant of repelling charm he must have created which induces in the target an uncontrollable rage at anyone who they believed had wronged them, enough anger to commit murder. Unfortunately for him, it could be easily overcome by anyone who had trained their mind and both of us fell in that category.

It was when we found the ring that the situation changed. I had not thought much of him keeping quiet. In fact, I did not notice anything wrong until I saw him trying to put the ring on his finger as if he forgot the fact that it was a horcrux or that it surely would have a curse on it. I quickly stopped him and asked what he was doing. It was then that I noticed that his eyes were blank. I had a feeling that he could not comprehend anything other than the ring he was so intent on wearing. Suddenly, he pushed me away surprising me with his strength. My combat instincts kicked in and I unleashed a wandless banisher at him. He was pushed back a few feet and landed on his rear, both his wand and the ring flew from his hands in different directions and clattered away. The fact that he got caught off guard underlined the severity of the situation. Dumbledore was a veteran of two wars. He was considered living legend for a reason. He should not have been caught off guard by the banisher of a school kid, albeit a wandless one, especially in a hostile territory. As if to double underline the severity of the situation, Dumbledore completely ignored his wand and summoned the ring to him. I quickly summoned and threw Artemisia. Unlike my archery, my throwing skills had always been mediocre. But, to my surprise, the tip of the dagger fit right into the hole of the ring. It seemed my blindfolded training with Clarisse and later training in the Room of Requirement did me some good.

For a fraction of a moment, time stood still or perhaps it was my skewed sense of perception due to my demigod status. Then, my sweet Artemisia tore through the ring. An unearthly scream echoed throughout the hovel and I saw black smoke being emitted from the remains of the ring. Just like with Quirell, it formed into a mockery of a face for a moment and then dissipated. Dumbledore got up summoning his wand to his hand and looked around as if he had been asleep and the scream startled him awake. He relaxed slightly when he saw the damaged ring but I knew he was still alert, ready for any unpleasant surprises. He cast a spell on the remains of the ring and his face twitched slightly as if he saw something unpleasant and then relaxed.

Dumbledore then told me that it was a good thing that I accompanied him there. Otherwise, he would have been travelling to the Underworld the painful way. I guessed he might have been embarrassed, a war veteran like him having to be saved by a school kid, demigod or not but he took it in good nature.

Dumbledore believed the only reason I was not affected was because I was too young to regret someone's death. Looking down at my skii jacket, I was not sure. I had once asked Artemis why the Hunters had a uniform. She admitted that the main purpose of it was to give her Hunters immunity to Aphrodite's charm speak and other benefits were merely an afterthought. The compulsion charm must have been more similar to charm speak than a mental attack if Dumbledore was affected.

He broke off the stone and levitated it to his hand. It was then I felt it. I turned and, on seeing me, so did Dumbledore ready to attack.

Thanatos was standing there nonchalantly as if he had always been there but I knew otherwise. He extended his hand palm up towards Dumbledore and suddenly the air grew tense. For a moment, I thought Dumbledore was going to duel him to keep the stone but he gave it up without a fuss.

It was then that I understood the importance of the stone. I asked the god about it. He must have been in a good mood. He replied without the reluctance that he had displayed the last time. While the stone could summon the spirits from the Underworld, its real purpose was for him to summon the dead souls to him. Of course, it would not work across the oceans, Poseidon's domain, but with it, he just had to be on the same landmass rather than at the site of death. It would save a lot of time and effort for him. Soon, he left and we followed suit returning to the school.

I had another dream involving Voldie and a huge snake he called Nagini, which I assumed was the horcrux. I could not understand why he would have one of his phylacteries so easy to kill, in comparison. There was only so much you could augument a living thing. Dumbledore believed Tom did not know what he would happen if his physical body was destroyed beyond repair and preferred the risk of losing a piece of soul to that of being trapped for eternity in a glorified prison of his own making.

It was when Dumbledore started negotiating with goblins that problems started. I was not there of course but he informed me about it later. Apparently, there was a clause in their peace treaty with humans which magically binds them to defend anything stored in the vaults, with their lives, if need be. Even after using a lot of influence and 'compensation', the most he could get out of them was that we would be allowed into the particular vault and allowed to look around. If we took or damaged anything, they would treat as thieves who had broken into the bank and act accordingly. Basically, the only way we could destroy the phylactery was to somehow expel the soul from the chalice without damaging it.

We were in a dilemma when I remembered the white flames, Selene's power. I had the idea of creating a spell that invoked Selene's power to create purifying flames. Even with Dumbledore's help, it was an uphill task as Arithmancy was a completely new subject for me. Arithmancy was more Hermione's field than mine but I could not ask her help.

Luna was my saving grace in that regard. She was...an interesting girl. Our first meeting was basically her stating my name, speaking hers and then telling me that she felt comfortable with me because I had a power that was familiar to her yet unfamiliar. By the time I recovered from my shock, she had already left.

I later introduced her to Neville and Hermione. By the time I realised what I had caused, it was too late. The meeting of two eternal rivals. Luna was the Kakashi of the pair : calm, cool and unflappable, prodigy while Hermione was the Gai : passionate, energetic, pumped up, genius of hard work. Whenever Hermione failed to convince Luna that the creatures she was talking about did not exist, she would storm off to the library determined that she would be successful next time. Hopefully, she would not find a mini me and learn to create a combined reality marble.

Luna later told me that her mother was Cerridwen, Welsh goddess of Moon, Magic, Agriculture, Poetry, Music, Luck, Death, Fertility and I told her my parentage. She accepted it as it was, as if virgin goddesses having demigod children were the norm rather than the exception, which ironically enough was true in Greek region.

I wondered how many other pantheons were there still practising their own ways. Luna told me that when a Welsh deity took an interest in someone, they took on a mortal avatar, bereft of any divinity, and did the usual courting and marriage rituals the way ordinary mortals did. They would live out their lives as mortals until their death.

After that, Luna started helping me with the spell. Despite being too young to start Arithmancy course in school, she was natural at it. According to her, Arithmancy was her mother's gift to humanity so that they could create their own spells without invoking the gods. Apparently, Cerridwen wanted to see how far mortals could go on their own before they needed the gods' help. She could, for that reason, also be called 'Mother of Modern Magic'. With Luna on board, the process had accelerated and I was finally confident of completing the job within the year.

When I returned to school after Winter vacation, I noticed a lot of changes, primary being the absence of dementors. I later heard from the gossip vine that the Weasley boy was kidnapped and when the Auror who became our DADA professor went to rescue him, he found not only Sirius Black but also Peter Pettigrew, the wizard who Black was sent to prison for killing, very much alive and well. Both of them were taken into custody. There were many other tales mentioning forbidden love or something that I ignored. I asked Dumbledore about it but he asked me to wait until he had all the facts.

Finally, I completed the spell. 'Flóges Katharismós' or Flames of Purification was not exactly original but I felt simplicity had a beauty of its own. It was not like I needed an incantation.

Once I finished and mastered the spell, the actual destruction of the phylactery was anticlimatic. Just a matter of point and shoot. The goblin that escorted us was downright rude and snarky, even for a goblin, but we did not take it personally. After all, he was the one who would be labelled traitor and given dishonourable death for our screw ups. He had every right to be bitter. On our return, his behaviour was more typical of a goblin.

The next dream showed Tom Riddle hiding a beautiful tiara in the Room of Lost Things. He cast no wards or protection around it and I was starting to wonder about Dumbledore's claim of job getting more difficult. Surely, Tom was not arrogant enough to believe that nobody else would discover the room by accident. Apparently, he was. The only interesting thing to note was that the phylactery was anchoring the infamous DADA curse that had been piggybacking on the Hogwarts wards. The moment it was destroyed, the curse would cease to exist, crushed under the numerous ancient protective charms though it did make me wonder how the hell the guy knew where the ward stones were. Like with the chalice, destroying the horcrux itself was too easy to bother mentioning.

The next surprising incident was me getting an invitation to Azkaban. Yes, you heard it. Apparently, somebody, I suspect a certain twinkle-eyed old man, informed them that my Patronus was special and could kill dementors. Dumbledore escorted me there naturally.

Azkaban was dreary place, fitting for its monstrous guards. Or perhaps the long term presence of the dementors turned the place that way, I do not know. The very earth there seemed to be blackened by the unnaturalness, the misery, the pain. The castle itself, which seemed to be made of pitch black obsidian stone, stood stretching to the sky towering over everything else like Dracula's castle brought to life.

From what I could see, nobody liked dementors, not the Aurors, not the politicians, not the 'Imperius Curse' victims, perhaps not even old Voldie himself. The Aurors we met seemed skeptical but I could see the stirring of hope they were trying to hide. Perhaps, they might not have even allowed me there if I had not been Dumbledore's apprentice. I could not blame them. From what I understood, they were the ones doing the guard duty here. While they had the talismans, it only provided the protection of a beginner level Patronus, some silver mist thing which diminished the effect of the dementors but could not chase them away like proper animal guardians. It was disconcerting to see that most of the Aurors were wearing a talisman, a stark realisation of how few people could cast the spell that came naturally to me.

We were led to the room where they had the dementors trapped. On the way, we met many different kinds of people : reporters, politicians, 'concerned citizens'. One interesting person I met was Amelia Bones, the new head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement (DMLE). She was slightly chubby but I could tell it was the kind that came for those who were used to physically demanding lifestyle and suddenly ended up in a desk job, unlike her niece who was, let's say, slightly spoiled. By the way she held herself, I could tell that she was as dangerous as she used to be when she was more active. From the way, she scrutinised me, I knew she saw that there was more to me than my unimpressive exterior might suggest.

In the room, two Aurors were keeping the dementors back with their Patronus. By how dark the room was, I knew that they had every dementor they knew about in there. I requested them to let go and they did after they got the nod of consent from their boss.

The dementors charged at me enmasse but I had no fear. I could feel their desperation. They knew that I could kill them. After killing many and observing others, I knew that they had a hive mind of sorts. What one learned, everyone did. But, they had no queen or any kind of central command. It was obvious from their complete lack of any kind of teamwork and the fact that they were so easily trapped. I had assumed that the one who created them intended themselves to be the central command but lost control of them and the servants turned on their master.

I had decided that if Dumbledore went to such an effort to show off his apprentice, I might as well play along. I did not even bother with the incantation. When they got close enough, I simply pointed my wand at them and a huge silver phoenix appeared before me, a perfect replica of Fawkes. As expected, it was a massacre. It seemed I just completed one of my quests.

Soon, came Easter holidays and I got a visitor, a very much innocent Sirius. It was all there in the Daily Prophet. Apparently, after Black's breakout, Minister Fudge found some inconsistencies in the case and ordered an investigation into it that he personally oversaw. Many evidences were found that showed many of the previous ministry being less than honest. The present Minister naturally took the steps to correct the mistakes of the previous administration and see that justice was done. The Minister awarded Black 100000 galleon for every year of his incarceration and the fees for being unregistered animagus was waved away as wartime concessions with the former claiming that the latter would have registered had he had the chance to do so. The daily also stated that Sirius Black would soon be taking over as the head of House Black, which unlike House Potter, did not allow a female head or heir.

Sirius Black told me the tale of four boys who became friends at the beginning of their school life and together formed a group of mischief makers called Marauders. He also told me of the three of them who chose to become animagus to accompany their werewolf friend on full moon nights. I then heard about the pranks they played on each other and the others. He then told me about my father's incessant attempts to woo my mortal mother and their comical failures. Even if I was content knowing that they were having a happy afterlife, I was glad to have had a chance to understand them.

For example, my father thought himself quite clever for sending my mother a lily along with a love letter. In a twist of irony, my mother was allergic to the flower that was her namesake. Let's say that she was not happy and James Potter then realised the true meaning of the saying, wrath of the woman scorned, especially when the woman was a redhead with a temper.

One thing I found interesting was the mention of Marauder's Map which was in Weasley twins' possession. I decided to introduce him to them later on. When I asked about it, he told me that it was a joint venture with everyone pitching in. He promised to give me the research notes if he found them. It would be a boost to security if we could make magical maps of the camp and the upcoming new Athens.

Soon, the story turned to a darker path with them fighting on the frontlines. He talked about families like McKinnon which had ended, my mortal grandparents' death during an attack on the family mansion and many other families on their last legs. He told me about my parents deciding to stay under the Fidelius charm placed on an old property nobody knew Dumbledore owned and a brief description of the charm. Apparently, it was an extremely powerful protection charm embodying the concept of trust (in someone else). Sirius convinced my parents to use Peter Pettigrew as the Secret Keeper while he served as the decoy to fool the traitor amongst them never knowing that Pettigrew was the traitor who would hand over the secret to his master. He only realised the truth when he visited Pettigrew's house and saw funeral clothes and speech prepared. By the time he rushed to Godric Hollow, everything was already over. After he made sure I was safe, he went after Pettigrew who outsmarted and framed him. It was followed by a series of regrets and apologies I was glad to get it over it. There was only so much angst I could take. As for Peter Pettigrew, my only regret was that I killed off the dementors too soon and he would not be getting the full Azkaban experience.

Sirius then asked me if I wanted to live with him. I told him that while I would love having a fun loving uncle spoiling me rotten, I was not comfortable with someone having authority over me. I did not want to hurt someone who had already gotten the rotten end of the stick in life but I believed that any relationship had to be built on mutual trust which required honesty from all participants. Luckily, he was actually relieved by my answer.

Later on, Dumbledore requested Sirius to ask Kreacher about the locket. On Sirius' order, Kreacher brought the locket though it involved a lot of kicking and screaming. He was lot more agreeable though after we told him we wanted to destroy it. Destroying it was easy with my spell but the problem began after I gave the purified locket back to Kreacher. He started gushing about getting a gift from the "moon lady" and well, Sirius Black was considered one of the best Hit Wizards for a reason. He certainly proved that he had not lost his edge in Azkaban by mentioning how he felt it was suspicious that Remus Lupin always lost control to his wolf side in my presence but had never pressed it. Apparently, he knew about the existence of gods due to his family patron being Morrighan but had thought that they had stopped interacting with mortal world long ago. I guessed Mist worked in weird ways. My divine mother's identity got a laugh out of him though.

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	2. Percy's New Best Friend

**POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS**

Chapter 2 : Percy's New Best Friend

X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

X-X-X-X-X

This chapter will be in Iris' Pov unless stated otherwise.

X-X-X-X-X

I walked out of the woods and took a breath of fresh air. It was surprising how quickly I had started to see the land of Uncle Sam as my home away from home. I frowned as I thought about the reason I chose to go to the woods near Percy's home rather than the camp. I had received an IM message from Annabeth telling me not to go to the camp. Something about there been many problems and the camp not being safe any longer. She looked desperate, her eyes bloodshot as if she had not gotten sleep for a while, her posture weary as if she had aged a decade or two and not in a good way. It seemed leadership was taking a toll on her. I was not stupid enough to ignore her warning but I wanted to know what the hell was going on there.

Once I got to his house, I rang the bell and waited. Soon, the door was opened and I saw Sally's startled face.

"Hello Sally! Is Percy here?", I asked.

I blinked my eyes in surprise. I guessed I had picked up a few American mannerisms during my stay here.

"Percy just left for school. Come in. I will whip up something for you.", she replied.

I frowned and cast a Tempus spell. The local time was ten minutes to eight. I did not know the school started early here. I was used to class starting at nine.

"Thank you for the offer, Sally. It's not necessary. I am just leaving."

My stomach grumbled at that exact moment as if it existed to embarrassed me. I hoped my cheeks had not turned red. That would be a bigger embarrassment. Sally opened the door wider in a show of invitation, an amused smile on her face. I entered meekly feeling like a misbehaving child. Well, Sally was a good cook.

She prepared her special blue pancakes I had, despite myself, grown to love the last winter. Soon, I found myself eating quite quickly. I had enough manners to not lower myself to doing something inelegant like gorging, unlike a certain son of Poseidon, despite how mouthwateringly delicious those pancakes were.

"Are you going to take Percy to the camp?", Sally asked.

"I don't know. I had heard there are some problems there but Annabeth wasn't very specific. I was hoping to ask Percy about it.", I replied.

"So, you came straight here.", she sighed, "To be honest, I had not told Percy yet. I decided to wait until the school is over. No need to worry him unnecessarily about things he can do nothing about."

"What happened exactly?", I asked her.

She seemed reluctant initially but then gave in.

"Chiron told me about it. Someone poisoned the Thalia's tree. The magical borders are falling. It will be a matter of time before the camp is no more safe than the outside world."

I winced.

Thalia was the daughter of Zeus who, along with her friends, was hunted by the horde of monsters sent by an enraged Hades. When it looked like they would never reach the camp, she attacked the monsters head on to give her friends time to get to the camp knowing that only death awaited her. Zeus turned her into a tree and used it as an anchor for the powerful protection charm fuelled by her sacrifice. If the anchor weakened, so did the charm.

"Which school does Percy go to, anyway?", I asked her.

"Meriwether College Prep. It's in downtown Manhattan. Are you going to go there, Iris?", she asked.

"Well, it's not like I am going to disturb his classes or anything. I admit I am curious about his school and how he is there."

"In that case, I write down the address for you.", she replied.

When I took the paper from her, I noticed that along with the address, she had even drawn a crude map and different ways to get there.

I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Is it really that hard to find the school, Sally?" I asked.

"You will be surprised. Even if it is not, it's better to be safe than sorry.", came her reply.

I nodded. That was a good attitude to have in life. Soon, I was outside ready to leave.

"Look after my son, Iris. Nothing has happened yet but I worry."

"I will.", I replied looking straight into her kaleidoscopic eyes to show my seriousness.

"And don't forget to take care of yourself, Iris.", she said ruffling my hair.

"Same to you too, Sally.", I replied and left.

Even if it was not stated outright, she had practically adopted us as her children. I guessed it was a good thing we stayed at Percy's the last winter. With Percy showing us around New York, all of us had a good time. While there were a few attacks, it was not bad enough to worry. The monsters that attacked were annoyance at best. I did wonder briefly if they were being held back for some reason.

We never had to worry about monsters attacking after I placed a ward around the house. It was not a ward per se, more of a charm that manipulated the Mist to give the effect of the Repelling ward to anything supernatural, similar to the way the different pantheons were kept seperated. I did not think it would affect gods but monsters and demigods were free game. It would have been easier if I could do something permanent like that with Mist alone but I think Divine Authority might be necessary to do that.

Of course, the spell needed something divine to anchor it. Percy's house was not near any leylines. So, I could not anchor it to Earth itself. While Percy might be staying at the moment, he might choose to stay at Camp next year. So, anchoring it to him was a bad idea. I asked Sally whether Poseidon had given her any gifts. We were lucky. She took out a pearl necklace from a cleverly hidden safe. From the look on his face, I knew that Percy did not know about it. Seeing the necklace, I could understand why Sally was embarrassed to wear it. It seemed Poseidon was quite serious when he described her as a queen. I did not know much about jewellery but I had the feeling that selling it would be enough for many generations of descendents to live a comfortable life. I did not know if it had any powers but I could tell that it was a highly divine artifact, more than enough for the purpose. It was quite easy to tie the ward to it, much easier than I anticipated. Perhaps, it was a protection amulet.

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I understood why Sally talked about being surprised when I reached the school, if it could be called that. These Americans truly had a weird sense of humour. I had seen children sit on bean chairs, teachers wearing rock concert T-shirts and if I was right, they had no such things as exams or grades. How did the institution get certified anyway? Maybe, most of the students had parents rich and generous enough to give a large donation to keep it running. Considering how far outside the standards it was, a substantial amount of bribe might have been needed. I was glad, though, that it was not Annabeth in my place. She would have gone on a killing spree for the mockery of the education system.

The more concerning issue however was Percy's best friend Tyson. Not only had a Cyclops got himself into the same school as Percy, which was certainly no coincidence, he had wormed himself into Percy's confidence. I still remembered the last time a similar situation occurred. Out of all the monsters we had faced, I considered Medusa as the most dangerous. We were really lucky to have survived that. Our fight with the fatty and sonny might have been difficult but we controlled the flow of it rather than the other way round.

I decided to follow him around invisible. The moment the Cyclops decided to stop the charade, he would find a knife in his gut or an arrow piercing his forehead, I was not very specific about that part.

The more I stayed there, the more I was disgusted. It was obvious that these people had never even heard of terms like discipline or professionalism.

The English class consisted of the teacher giving some paltry excuse and leaving the students to their own devices.

The only good thing that came out of it was that I learned who the local bully/annoyance was.

I shook my head. It did not matter how good or bad a school was, there would always be some boy who wanted others to believe he was the hotshot but anyone with more than two brain cells could see that he was compensating for some deficiency.

The chemistry class was worse than English. While the latter was negligent, former was outright dangerous. The teacher told her students to mix chemicals until something explodes. The sad thing was that she had the surname of the famous inventor Nikola Tesla. I hope they were not related. He did not deserve such an embarrassment. The good thing about the class was that Percy and Tyson aced the 'exam' in 30 seconds and I was free to leave.

The social studies class was fortunately quite serious. They were taught about latitudes and longitudes. I saw Percy looking at something hidden inside his notebook and peeked in. A smile came to my face when I saw what it was. It was the photo of the three of us standing in front of the arcade.

Then that idiot with no survival instincts snatched the photo out of his book and started ogling it. To make matters worse, he passed it off to his lackeys who tore it into pieces laughing all the while. I decided. Let the end of the day come. They would be very sorry.

It was then that I noticed that few of the lackeys seemed a little too big to be a school student. They were as large as the Cyclops, or perhaps larger, I could not say for sure and that worried me. They were wearing the 'HI! MY NAME IS...' tags they got from somewhere, administration office perhaps. They have filled the blanks with names like MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, JOE BOB. Then the boy, I did not bother remembering his name, introduced them as new students joining next year and I knew for certain that they were monsters. Things had just gotten more complicated.

X-X-X-X-X

I arrived late and I was sure I missed something. Percy was sitting on the middle of the gym floor holding his stomach while the idiot and his cronies were laughing. By the way they were arranged, I assumed that they split up to two teams for something.

I looked at the one in charge and realized that the school kept up its pitiful standards there too. The coach was reading Sports Illustrated oblivious to everything else. With bifocals, no teeth and a greasy wave of grey hair, he reminded of Oracle at the Camp, atleast as far as Percy had described, but I had a feeling that the Oracle was much more healthier looking and active.

"Percy, duck!", I heard Tyson shout.

Percy rolled and I jumped away from the path of the dodge ball cursing inwardly. It was a good thing I was wearing the Invisibility Cloak. A disillusionment charm would have given me away. It hit the wall mat causing a boy nearby to yelp.

Hey!", Percy yelled at the other team, "You could kill somebody!"

I mentally facepalmed. Monsters were supposed to kill people.

The visitor named Joe Bob grinned evilly. I had a feeling that he was the leader of those monsters. He looked a lot bigger now ... even taller than Tyson. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt.

"I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"

All around the idiot, the visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight foot tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts. The annoyance dropped his ball.

"Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who ..."

What do we say in these situations? Well, duh!

The other kids on his team started screaming and backing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past the Indian boy just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut. He and some of the other kids banged on it desperately but it would not budge.

"Let them go!", Percy yelled at the giants.

I sighed. His hero complex was a trait of his we had learned to like but there were times where it was inconvenient. He just gave the giant the opportunity to dictate terms.

The one called Joe Bob growled at Percy. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said: JB luvs Babycakes.

"And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"

He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the center line, but these balls were not made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like wiffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. They must have been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.

"Coach!", Percy yelled.

I felt like smacking my head against the wall. Even if he was not incompetent, what did Percy expect the mortal to do against the monsters?

The coach looked up sleepily, but if he saw anything abnormal about the dodgeball game, he didn't let on. I wondered briefly what he was seeing through the Mist.

"Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach muttered. "Play nice."

He went back to his magazine. The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. Percy dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past his shoulder.

"Corey!", Percy screamed.

Tyson pulled him out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.

I blinked my eyes in surprise. It seemed that the Cyclops was on our side if he went out of the way to save a mortal kid.

"Run!", Percy told his teammates, "The other exit!"

They ran for the locker room, and Joe Bob threw a fiery ball in their direction. I decided enough was enough and used the Summoning charm. The ball decelerated until it stopped and I let it fall to the ground. The giants gaped at the impossibility for a moment unable to comprehend it. That moment was enough for all the mortal kids to escape.

I shrugged off my Invisibility Cloak and summoned my bow and quiver full of arrows. It was an irritating fact I had discovered about the Cloak. I could not summon my bow and arrows when I was wearing it. It gave me quite the scare the first time.

I got two of them but the third having heard their death cries was aware enough to tilt his head letting the arrow pass by. Two Down Four to Go.

I would have preferred to stay invisible and stab them in the back but whether by design or chance they stood a certain distance away from each other. I could only kill one before I lose the surprise factor. I was not facing those fiery balls at close range. I had a feeling I would not fare as well as Percy.

They turned and saw me for the first time. Joe Bob's face twisted into a snarl.

"Goddess! You are not allowed to be here. Ancient Laws forbid it. Leave."

I arched an eyebrow in surprise. If he thought I was Artemis, I might as well play the part. I wondered whether Artemis always suppressed her power to demigod levels when she was hunting. Not even these idiots were dumb enough to mistake a mortal for a god otherwise.

I made sure to emulate as much of her regality and authority as I could.

"You forget, monster, that you are now in the territory of the gods. Hunting monsters within it is part of my duties."

"What are you-"

I tutted and lightly touched Percy's shirt. A pocket formed on it like a crocodile opening its mouth. A pen appeared in it instantly which he uncapped to a form a glowing celestial bronze sword.

"Do whatever you want, boy. Just don't get in my way.", I told him dismissively as my mother would have done, "Boys, always so stupid and reckless."

I saw Percy flush in embarrassment out of the corner of my eyes and held in a smirk. The remaining giants conjured those fiery bronze balls and threw them at us. I looked at the balls curving in towards us from four directions in a detached state.

"Tyson, is it... Let's teach these upstarts a lesson.", I spoke showing a clenched fist.

"They hurt Percy. Tyson show the upstarts hurt.", he said baring his crooked teeth towards the giants in challenge.

Tyson jumped in front of Percy and caught two of the balls with his bare hands while I shot the rest down, using three arrows for every ball due to the mass difference. He hurled it back at the surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests. The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame. Four Down Two to Go.

"My brothers!", Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed.

He flexed his muscles and his Babycakes tattoo rippled.

"You will pay for their destruction!"

Next thing I saw was a volley of fiery comets streaking towards us. The giants were throwing the ball as soon as it was conjured and conjuring a new one as soon as their hands were empty. It seemed they had stopped holding back. I wondered where they were getting these balls from. Did they have a treasury like Gilgamesh had in Fate/Stay Night?

Last winter, I might have had trouble with it. But, I had gotten a lot of practice since then. I sent a volley of my own to intercept them while Percy and Tyson charged ahead, with the Cyclops smashing away any that I had missed. When they reached close enough, I stopped shooting and dismissed the bow and arrows letting them take care of their opponents themselves.

For Tyson, it was pathetically easy. One punch was enough. Percy's opponent, Joe Bob was a fighter, perhaps the strongest fighter among them as he was their leader. But, Percy, while out of touch, was a fighter too. It was not long before Anaklusmos sliced through the giant causing him to disappear in green flames but he had made Percy work for the victory.

"Good job, Perce.", I said approaching him, "You might have slacked off a lot but you got back into the swing of things at the end."

"You! You are one-"

I punched the idiot in the face. Seeing the blood coming from his nose, I realised that I did not hold back enough. Considering the fact that he was standing there gawking while others had escaped, a little pain would only benefit him.

"I am astonished to see mortals completely lacking any sort of self preservation instincts. Who the hell stands so close when combatants leagues beyond them are duking it out? He is lucky he is still alive. Any of the balls that Tyson smacked away could have caved his skull in."

"Iris, he was a normal guy till today, you know, well, as normal as a spoilt rich bully can get. Seeing the friends he invited to school transforming into monsters, it's no surprise he went into shock.", Percy replied.

"True.", I replied not showing any surprise at his insightful comment. I had known that Percy was not an idiot just slow. It did not mean that I stopped being surprised.

"So...how long have you..."

"I came to your home this morning but you had already left for school. So, I came here. By the way, where is the coach?", I replied looking around.

We did find him but, well...

"Are you sure you are not Apollo's child, Iris?", Percy asked to which I glared in reply.

We had found the coach with his skull caved in by what looked like a ball Tyson had deflected. Our eyes met and we knew that the other was thinking the same. The old geezer had already had one foot in the grave and he jumped in completely. It was a callous thought but we could not feel bad for the death of the man who would not be missing out much, any more than the death of an ant. Perhaps, that was the price for returning alive from the Underworld. We did not return whole.

I looked around me. The gym was in flames. Kids were still inside the locker rooms having locked themselves in. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see a middle aged man who I assumed to be the headmaster wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him. I heard the groan indicating the school idiot was waking up.

I took my wand and blasted a hole in the side of the building. I snapped my fingers manipulating Mist, took my Invisibility Cloak and jumped out the hole. All the mortal children would believe was that some masked people tried to kidnap the idiot for ransom and the coach died protecting him.

"If you don't want to be caught, come quickly.", I said and threw the Cloak over myself.

X-X-X-X-X

I was waiting for them in an alley down Church Street. I pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.

I extended my hand towards Tyson.

"I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. I am Iris Potter, daughter of Artemis."

He looked confused at first. Then he slowly extended his hand and grasped mine.

"I am Tyson.", he said slowly as if he wanted to make sure that he got it correct.

I kept off my face the displeasure I felt at touching his unclean hands. He kept Percy safe all that time. He deserved that courtesy at least.

"So, how long have you been Percy's classmate?", I asked.

"I joined with Percy at the start.", he replied.

"Why have you not mentioned your friend to us till now, Percy?", I asked him in a calm tone.

I could see him fidgeting. So, he was uncomfortable. Good.

"The topic never came up, I guess."

"Alright."

"Tyson, your hands aren't even burned.", Percy suddenly spoke as if he could not believe his eyes.

I blinked in surprise. Surely, he would have worked it out by now. Then again, he reacted the same way when he learned the truth about Grover. I guessed he just needed time to accept it.

"Of course.", I said, " If those Laistrygonians had a single brain cell between them, they would never have come to the school."

"Laistry-what"

"Laistrygonians or as many call them Canadians. Like their name, they live in Canada. I have not heard of them ever coming to territory of the gods, well the Olympian gods. Considering that they didn't recognise me or Tyson but knew of your presence there, it is obvious someone is not happy with your continued existence and sent them to correct the problem."

Percy kept quiet after that, perhaps, trying to accept that another demigod would go to such lengths to have him killed.

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class.

"Canadians in the gym called Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?"

I gave Percy a look, the message in my eyes clear.

'He is your friend. You take care of it.'

"Big guy,", Percy began, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis-"

"Yes.", Tyson said.

"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes.", Tyson said, still waiting for him to get to the point.

"Uh, well, Iris and I are half-bloods.", Percy said, "We're like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

So ... you believe me?"

Tyson nodded.

"But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah.", I admitted, "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused.

"But then ..."

I sighed in frustration. I could understand Percy having difficulty accepting that his father slept with other women besides his mother as I had seen him struggle with much simpler relevations. But, really, were all supernatural family reunions that awkward? I remembered having a much easier time with the Hunters.

"We don't have time for this," I said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

I then sent off a Patronus reminiscent of Hedwig to inform Annabeth of our arrival.

"A taxi all the way to camp?", Percy asked, "You know how much money—"

"Trust me." , I replied.

"What about Tyson?", Percy asked.

"He can come too.", I replied.

I threw a drachma at the road and watched it sink into it.

"Stêthi," I shouted in Ancient Greek, "Ô hárma diabolês!"

'Stop, Chariot of Damnation!', I thought.

The fastest way anywhere in New York, Annabeth said. I somehow had a bad feeling about it.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space, bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze. It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. It looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door, GRAY SISTERS. The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way.

"Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp Half-Blood," I said.

I opened the cab's back door and waved at the others to get in, like this was all completely normal.

"Ach!", the old woman screeched, "We don't take his kind!"

She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.

"Extra pay.", I offered, "Three more drachma on arrival."

"Done!", the woman screamed.

Percy got in the cab first. Tyson squeezed in the middle. I reluctantly crawled in last. I might have gotten over my phobia of enclosed spaces but that did not mean that I liked travelling in congested spaces.

The interior was also smoky grey, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy, no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There was not just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up! I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I was not that desperate ... yet.

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the grey lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!", the driver complained.

Wait a minute. Give her the eye? I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.

"Wasp!", the third lady said to the driver, "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it." "You bit it last time, Anger!", said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp, "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. I cursed Annabeth as I suddenly realised who we had ended up with.

"Excuse me," Percy said, "But ... can you see?"

"No!", screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"No!", screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!", screamed Anger by the shotgun window.

Percy looked at me.

"They're blind?"

"Not completely.", I replied resigned, "Apparently they have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yes."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."

"Oh, man, Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?", Percy asked.

The three grey ladies were too busy squabbling to pay us any attention. I took out a roll of parchment from my bag and transfigured into a makeshift paper bag for Tyson. Percy gave me a look as if asking me what I had gotten myself into.

"Hey, this is the fastest way to camp according to Annabeth.", I said shamelessly putting all the blame on her, "though I am starting to wonder whether the speed is worth it. I thought it would be like the Knight Bus which, while uncomfortable, was safe as the obstacles automatically moved out of its path."

"Ah! The Knight Bus!", Anger exclaimed.

"It was inspired by our taxi service, you know.", screamed Wasp, "It was given the same special features that our original taxi had."

"The original?", I asked feeling dread pooling in my stomach.

"Yes. A pity it broke down and had to be sent for repair.", Tempest shouted, "The reserve one we use now doesn't have those features. We are still relearning how to drive conventional way. It has been...an interesting experience."

Percy's face had turned deathly pale and I had the feeling that my face had coloured similarly.

"Percy, you can blame me all you want. I admit I had been too hasty and made a wrong decision.", I said grudgingly.

"Hey! We've had famous people in this cab!", Anger exclaimed, "Jason! You remember him?"

"Don't remind me!", Wasp wailed, "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

"Give me the tooth!", Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"

"No!", Tempest screeched, "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!"

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"

Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing Percy between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour. The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's.

With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I noticed that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth.

This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Uh, if anybody's interested.", Percy said, "we're going to die!"

"Don't worry, Percy.", I said, "They are supposed to be very wise. We won't die. We might get our bones crushed, muscles torn, have internal bleeding, end up bedridden the rest of the summer but we won't die."

"I feel so much better.", Percy bit out.

"Yes, very wise!", Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth, "We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!", Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister, "The capital of Nepal!"

"The location you seek!", Tempest added.

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"What?", Percy said, "What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!", Tempest said, "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me."

"No!", they all screamed.

"The last time we told, it was horrible!", Tempest said, "Eye tossed in a lake!"

Anger agreed. "Years to find it again!"

Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that-give it back!"

"No!", yelled Anger, "Eye!"

Wasp yelled, "Gimme!"

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into Tyson's lap. The skill Tyson showed with the fiery bronze balls certainly did not translate to green eyeballs. Tyson who was already skittish panicked. As the idiot in the joke of a school, whatever his name was, would tell you, when Tyson panicked, he tended to smack away the cause. It would have flown out the window had I not caught it in time. Looking at my hand, I realised for the first time that superior reflexes were not always a good thing.

"I can't see!", all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye, girl!", Wasp wailed.

The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing grey smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.

"Well, well", I said trying to be as suave and charming as possible with a slimy eyeball in my hand, "I saved the eyeball from going out and getting lost for who knows how long. It's only expected that you give us something in return, perhaps the location we seek. It's the way things are done after all."

My hands were already stained. I might as well gain something.

"Give us the eyeball and we will tell you.", they offered

"Tell us the location and we will give you the eyeball.", Percy counter offered.

That was what I liked the most about Percy. He might be little slow but he was reliable no matter the situation.

"No time!", Tempest cried, "Accelerating!"

I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a grey blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.

"Tell us quickly then. I am getting the urge to throw it out and it's getting difficult to resist.", I replied.

"Wait!", the Gray Sisters screamed, "30, 31, 75, 12!"

"Does it make any sense to you, Percy? It doesn't to me.", I said.

"30, 31, 75, 12!", Anger wailed, "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest-Thalia's tree, which contained the life force of a fallen hero.

I threw the eye into Wasp's lap. I had a feeling that Anger was telling the truth. As Chiron told us last year, we demigods could go wherever we wanted, do whatever we wanted as long as we were ready to bear the consequences but other supernatural entities were limited.

The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."

I quickly opened the door and got out throwing the sisters the extra payment. The situation was indeed dire. At the crest of the hill was a group of campers and they were under attack. A gasp from Percy ws enough for me to know that he saw the condition of Thalia's tree.

X-X-X-X-X

Hepheastus was a god I had a lot of respect for. He was someone who had only known disgust and scorn for a long time since his birth, if ever. He was thrown off the Olympus when he was a baby and became, as Ares would say, eternal cripple. Not exactly the kind of welcome anybody would want. He was then saddled with a cheating wife who did not even care enough to keep her affairs discrete. He had always gotten the short stick in his eternal life. In spite of all that, he had always been loyal and dutiful, churning out superweapons on demand. I had to admit, though, seeing Colchis bulls going on rampage and burning everything down did lessen that respect a little. Surely, the god of Forges could have invested more into security and containment.

On closer observation, I could see that things were not as dire as I feared.

The first bull was being lead into a trap by a constantly appearing and disappearing Annabeth with others occasionally joining in. I recognized the Hepheastus cabin leader Charles Beckendorf standing nearby. Annabeth intended to reprogram it to serve as the Camp's guards. An excellent strategy.

The second bull was being confronted by a group led by Clarisse. They were doing well against it. They were attacking the legs with the spear and defending with the shield.

The problem was the third one. I saw no one fighting it. There were four demigods nearby running around in circles screaming wearing helmets whose horse hair plum was burning. I assumed that they were the ones supposed to keep the third bull occupied. I wondered why it never occurred to them to remove the helmet but just chalked it up to inexperience. I idly recognised one of them as Apollo's. Uncle was not going to be happy. Their embarrassing actions were more glaring in the backdrop of Annabeth's and Clarisse's group who seemed to be in a private competition as to who would take down the bull first. With no one to fight, the bull soon turned to Clarisse's group.

"Percy, same strategy as earlier. You and Tyson go up front. I will provide ranged support.", I said.

Seeing Annabeth using a spear was enough for me to understand that getting close was a bad idea. I had never seen her use any weapon other than her dagger before.

"What? You are not talking about putting him in danger, are you, Iris? He is a mortal. Just because he got lucky once doesn't mean we should risk his safety like that.", Percy said and turned to the Cyclops, "Tyson, stay here."

For a moment, I was too shocked to reply. By the time I got over it, he was already dashing off to the bull, sword in hand.

"Tyson, you don't think Percy is still in denial, do you?", I asked.

"I don't know, Iris.", came his reply.

Seeing him nervous and insecure, I remembered that while he might be unusually intelligent for his size and type, even an intelligent baby was still a baby.

I wondered why Percy was talking about Tyson being lucky. From what I remembered, he smacked the bronze balls away as if he was swatting away a fly and killed a giant with one punch. There was no luck involved. Perhaps, he saw something different than I did.

"Tyson, if Percy is having problems, we'll help him.", I assured him.

Meanwhile, Percy somehow taunted the bull to attack him head on. He moved at the last second and using its own momentum to cut a deep gash on its sides causing fire to sputter from it. It seemed even these metal bulls had the same limitations as the real one. He did well, always keeping to the sides, attacking low, never giving it time to adjust its position. It seemed for a moment that he could do it on his own but then it happened. Percy tripped. He was not hurt, as far as I could see but it gave the bull time to orient itself. The bull spit out a massive wave of fire at Percy and he rolled aside. A wild slash from Percy and the bull lost a part of its snout disorienting it. It gave him time to get back up but his left leg buckled underneath him. It seemed he twisted his ankle.

"Tyson, come on, it's our cue.", I said.

I soon noticed I was the only one running and looked back.

Tyson wailed, "Can't-get-through!"

I resisted the urge to cry out in frustration. I looked forward and saw that the bull seemed to take its time to prepare its attack. Perhaps, it knew that Percy could not move. I had a feeling that the next attack was much stronger and dangerous.

"I, Iris Potter, counsellor of cabin 8, give you permission to enter camp!"

Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly, Tyson ran towards him as fast as wind, yelling: "Percy needs help!"

Tyson dove between Percy and the bull just as it unleashed a hellish firestorm.

When the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must have been surprised, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out. "Down!", Tyson yelled.

The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places. It seemed he did not need my help after all.

I ran over to him and checked him. Other than the twisted angle, he was fine. I put it back in place eliciting a cry from him. What a baby.

"You idiot boy! What were you thinking running off on your own? You nearly died, you know. If Tyson hadn't reached you in time, there would have been nothing left of you.", I said.

"But-"

"No buts.", I replied so firmly that he immediately shut his mouth and nodded.

I saw Annabeth running over to us.

"Are you two alright?"

"Yes. Percy had a twisted ankle but I set it back into place.", I replied.

"What about the other bulls?", Percy asked.

"They are being taken care of.", she replied.

The bull Annabeth's group was fighting was lying immobile inside a pit. Charles Beckendorf was sitting on its neck, his hands inside an open panel behind its head screwing around with wires.

The one Clarisse's group was fighting was on the ground incapitated surrounded by the group members standing victoriously.

"What is it doing here?", Annabeth asked pointing at Tyson.

"Honestly, I don't know. I found Tyson with Percy at school. Apparently, they had been classmates and close friends for an year. I thought if someone went to such lengths to have him accompany us, we might as well have him help defend the Camp.", I replied, "Just so you know, he can perfectly understand everything we say and can talk to us."

Her eyes widened in shock and she looked at him, "But-"

"I was surprised too.", I told her sympathetically, "I first thought he was an older one using Mist to disguise himself as a younger one."

"We should take him to the activities director. Let him decide what to do.", she said.

Annabeth was a smart girl. She understood what I was saying. Had it been a year earlier, she might have thrown a tantrum or stormed off to sulk, in her own Athena style. Her posture at present only spoke of grim acceptance. It showed the maturity that came with the leadership position. I knew that despite her personal feelings, she would support Tyson's acceptance because she knew the Camp desperately needed skilled fighters.

I wondered why she never referred to Chiron by name. Perhaps, they had a disagreement that escalated.

"You didn't die.", Mr. Tactless asked Tyson

Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed.

"I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault.", I said, "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."

"Let him cross the boundary line?", Percy asked, "But—"

"Percy," I said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Percy tried to look at his face. The higher he went, the more trouble he had. It was as if there was a force pushing his head down. I placed a finger on the side of his temple and send a weak magical pulse into it, similar to the way genjutsu was broken in Naruto series. The effect was visible as he suddenly lifted his head to look Tyson in the eye.

"Tyson," Percy stammered, "You're a ..."

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered, "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans." "One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities.", Annabeth said distastefully, "They're ... mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods ... Well, one god in particular, usually ... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you."

"But the fire. How—"

"Percy, did you forget everything Chiron told us last year when you were accused of stealing master bolt,", I said, "about Zeus believing that Poseidon was having the Cyclopses working for him in his underwater forges create illegal copies to topple him from his throne. Making weapons of that level require divine flames. Cyclops are fire resistant to such a degree that Tyson could walk through the bull's flames unscathed as easily as you could swim underwater."

Clarisse then came over and wiped the soot off her forehead.

"Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

"Tantalus?", I asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here.", Percy said.

Annabeth made a sour face as if she had just eaten something foul.

"Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing and not for the better. There's a reason I didn't want you both coming here."

"But Chiron ... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?", Percy asked.

"That happened.", Clarisse snapped.

She pointed to the Thalia's tree. I looked at the sad sight. The pine had been here ever since I came to the Camp, strong and healthy. But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap. A very familiar green sap. It seemed it was time for me to do some investigation on my own.

X-X-X-X-X


	3. We Play Angry Birds

**POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS**

Chapter 3 : We Play Angry Birds

X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

X-X-X-X-X

This chapter will be in Iris' Pov unless stated otherwise.

X-X-X-X-X

Seeing Camp Half Blood again was a weird experience. On the surface, things did not look all that different. But there was an air of danger now. You could tell something was wrong. Instead of playing volleyball in the sandpit, counsellors and satyrs were stockpiling weapons in the tool shed. Dryads armed with bows and arrows talked nervously at the edge of the woods. The forest looked sickly, the grass in the meadow was pale yellow, and the fire marks on Half-Blood Hill stood out like ugly scars.

As we made our way to the Big House, I recognized a lot of kids from last summer. Nobody stopped to talk. Nobody welcomed us back. Some did double takes when they saw Tyson, but most just walked grimly past and carried on with their duties-running messages, toting swords to sharpen on the grinding wheels. The camp felt like what I imagined a military school to be like or perhaps Camp Jupiter.

None of that mattered to Tyson. He was absolutely fascinated by everything he saw. He kept pointing at everything and asking about it with an excitement only a young child could muster. The task of explaining everything naturally went to Percy as his best friend.

When we got to the Big House, we found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favourite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags.

As soon as we saw him, Tyson froze.

"Pony!", he cried in total rapture.

Chiron turned, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"

Annabeth ran up and hugged him. She was shaking slightly and it was certainly not from laughter. I now knew why her eyes were blood shot when she had IMed me.

Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kindly smile. He was the only father figure she had ever known. In fact, I could say the same about almost everyone here : demigods, nymphs, satyrs.

"Hello, child. And Percy, Iris, my goodness. You both have grown over the year!"

Percy spoke, "Annabeth said you were ... you were ..."

"Fired.", Chiron's eyes glinted with dark humour, "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."

"Besides himself, you mean.", Percy growled.

But this is crazy!", Annabeth cried, "Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"

"It's just like last year.", I said bitterly, "But, instead of us, you are the designated scapegoat."

"Nevertheless," Chiron sighed, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances."

"What circumstances?", Percy asked.

Chiron's face darkened. He stuffed a Latin-English dictionary into his saddlebag while the Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boom box.

Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like he wanted to pat Chiron's flank but was afraid to come closer. "Pony?"

Chiron sniffed. "My dear young Cyclops! I am a centaur."

"Chiron," Percy said, "What about the tree? What happened?"

He shook his head sadly.

"The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

"I am not surprised you did not know of it. It was not exactly a venom per se.", I said.

"So, you have checked it out. What have you learned, Iris?", Chiron asked giving me his full attention.

"It's the blood of the Python. I would recognise that green sap-like liquid anywhere.", I replied, "I have managed to extend its life for a few days but I have also got a very bad news. It's not just the protection charm at risk. The moment the Thalia's tree dies, the poison will be free to move through the earth and infect everything connected to it. I can not tell you how quickly it will happen just that it will. With enough time, entire camp will end up like a nuclear wasteland where life itself can not exist."

I saw Annabeth and Percy looking at me in shock and even Tyson lost his happy mood on sensing the tension while Chiron just seemed sad and resigned.

"You knew?"

Chiron said, "Lady Artemis has taught you well, I see. I have been part of the camp for a long time, Iris. I know every pebble and leaf like the back of my hand. I will always know when there is something wrong. I can feel it. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."

"I thought Avalon only worked on King Arthur.", I said.

Chiron had a sad smile on his face on hearing it. "You are correct, Iris. While the sheath of the King of Camelot is indeed a powerful artifact, it only worked for the rightful king. I am referring to something more...local."

"What is it?", Percy asked, "We'll go find it!"

Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the stop button on his boom box. Then he turned and rested his hand on his shoulder, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Percy, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, stay here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."

"Why?", Percy asked, "I want to do something! I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be—"

"Overrun by monsters.", Chiron said, "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life."

Percy grumbled at the reminder.

Annabeth was trying hard not to cry. Chiron brushed a tear from her cheek.

"Stay with Percy, child.", he told her, "Keep him safe. The prophecy-remember it!"

"I-I will."

"Um ...", Percy said, "Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"

Obviously none of us answered.

"Right.", Percy muttered, "Just checking."

"Chiron ...", Annabeth said, "You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp-"

"Annabeth, Chiron's life force is tied to the Camp similar to the way Thalia's life force is tied to the pine tree. As long as the Camp lives, so will Chiron. The moment the Camp dies, so will Chiron no matter where he will be at the time.", I replied.

Chiron gave me a reproachful look. I guessed he did not want us to risk our lives for his sake. Tough Luck.

His eyes softened and he patted my head. I felt my sight blur and I blinked my eyes letting the tear fall. I was not as close to Chiron as Annabeth was but I was still saddened by his leaving.

"You got your wilful nature from your mother, you know."

"I have heard that a lot.", I choked out.

"Annabeth, Iris, I want you to swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger.", he insisted, "Swear upon the River Styx."

"I-I swear it upon the River Styx.", we said. Thunder rumbled outside.

"Very well.", Chiron said relaxing just a little, "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved ... one way or another."

Annabeth stifled a sob. Chiron patted her shoulder awkwardly.

"There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D and the new activities director. We must hope ... well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear." "Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway?", Percy demanded, "Where does he get off taking your job?"

A conch horn blew across the valley. I had forgotten how late it was. It was time for the campers to assemble for dinner.

"Go," Chiron said, "You will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the titan lord has forgotten you!"

With that, he clopped out of the apartment and down the hall, Tyson calling after him, "Pony! Don't go!"

I wondered morbidly whether it would be the last we would see of him. Was it the end of the road for the Immortal Trainer of Heroes?

X-X-X-X-X

The sun was setting behind the dining pavilion as the campers came up from their cabins. We stood in the shadow of a marble column and watched them file in, in the order of seniority of the leader. Annabeth was still pretty shaken up, but she promised she had talk to us later. Then she went off to join her siblings from the Athena cabin-a bunch of boys and girls with blond hair and grey eyes like hers. Annabeth was not the oldest, but she had been at camp more summers than just about anybody else. You could tell that by looking at her camp necklace-one bead for every summer, and Annabeth had six. No one questioned her right to lead the line even if her Camp leadership did not have the same unanimous support.

Next came Clarisse, Annabeth's fiercest rival, leading the Ares cabin. She had one arm in a sling and a nasty-looking gash on her cheek, but otherwise her encounter with the bronze bull did not seem to have fazed her. Someone had taped a piece of paper to her back that said, YOU MOO, GIRL! But nobody in her cabin was bothering to tell her about it. What a bunch of pansies.

After the Ares kids came the Hephaestus cabin-six boys led by Charles Beckendorf, a big fifteen year old African American kid. He had hands around the size of a bludger and a face that was hard and squinty from looking into a blacksmiths forge all day. He was nice enough once you got to know him, but no one ever called him Charlie or Chuck or Charles or any other nickname. Most just called him Beckendorf. There was a rumor that said he could make anything. Give him a chunk of metal and he could create a razor sharp sword or a robotic warrior or anything else he was asked to do. He was the silent, strong type who rarely spoke but when he spoke his words were underlined with authority and wisdom and people listened. I heard he had sort of...developed an interest in the younger Aphrodite cabin counsellor. I was not one to judge someone based on their parent's reputation, but I hoped he had better luck in romance than his father did.

The other cabins filed in: Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus and finally it was my turn. Naiads came up from the canoe lake. Dryads melted out of the trees. From the meadow came a dozen satyrs, who reminded me of Grover.

I had always had a soft spot for the satyrs. I had always respected their dedication to the nature. When they were at camp, they had to do all kinds of odd jobs for Mr. D, our director, but their most important work, after the search for Pan, was going out in the real world as the camp's seekers. They went undercover all over the world, looking for potential half-bloods and escorting them back to camp. A good majority of the campers owed their safety and continued existence to them.

True, as Grover had told me, there were wild satyrs who kidnapped and raped young boys and girls but they had been low in number even back then and believed to be extinct for a long time. That was a group that Grover hated even more than humans lacking respect for the environment. He said they gave bad reputation to the entire satyr community and made escorting demigods to the Camp difficult. Reading between the lines, I could say they did not go extinct so much as they were hunted down to extinction, perhaps by my mother and her hunters even.

After the satyrs filed in to dinner, the Hermes cabin brought up the rear. They were always the biggest cabin. Last summer, it had been led by Luke, who had left. Now the Hermes cabin was led by Travis and Connor Stoll. They were not twins, but they looked so much alike it did not matter. I could never remember which one was older. They were both tall and skinny, with mops of brown hair that hung in their eyes. They wore orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts untucked over baggy shorts, and they had those elfish features all Hermes's kids had: upturned eyebrows, sarcastic smiles, a gleam in their eyes whenever they looked at anyone.

As soon as the last campers had filed in, Percy led Tyson into the middle of the pavilion. Conversations faltered. Heads turned.

"Who invited that?", somebody at the Apollo table murmured.

I glared in that direction. I recognized him as the pansy who ran around screaming with his plum hair of helmet on fire.

From the head table, a familiar voice drawled, "Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete."

"Percy Jackson ... sir.", Percy corrected.

Mr. D sipped his Diet Coke.

"Yes. Well, as you young people say these days: Whatever."

He was wearing his usual leopard-pattern Hawaiian shirt, walking shorts, and tennis shoes with black socks. With his pudgy belly and his blotchy red face, he looked like a Las Vegas tourist who had stayed up too late in the casinos. Behind him, a nervous looking satyr was peeling the skins off grapes and handing them to Mr. D one at a time.

Next to him, where Chiron usually sat (or stood, in centaur form), was someone I had never seen before-a pale, horribly thin man in a threadbare orange prisoner's jump-suit. The number over his pocket read 0001. The Naruto wannabe had blue shadows under his eyes, dirty fingernails, and badly cut grey hair, like his last haircut had been done with a weed whacker. He looked ... fractured. Angry and frustrated and hungry all at the same time. If he was that Tantalus, I would have to keep an eye on him.

"This boy," Dionysus told him, "you need to watch. Poseidon's child, you know."

"Ah!", the prisoner said, "That one."

His tone made it obvious that he and Dionysus had already discussed Percy at length and not the good things.

"I am Tantalus.", the prisoner said smiling coldly, "On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you, Perseus Jackson, I do expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."

"Trouble?", Percy demanded.

Yes, trouble.", Tantalus said with satisfaction, "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand."

Percy looked mad enough to start insulting the guy's mother but kept silent with an amazing strength of will I had never considered him capable of.

A satyr inched forward nervously and set a plate of barbecue in front of Tantalus. The new activities director licked his lips. He looked at his empty goblet and said, "Root beer. Barq's special stock. 1967."

The glass filled itself with foamy soda. Tantalus stretched out his hand hesitantly, as if he was afraid the goblet was hot.

"Go on, then, old fellow," Dionysus said, a strange sparkle in his eyes, a hint of mischief, "Perhaps now it will work."

Tantalus grabbed for the glass, but it scooted away before he could touch it. A few drops of root beer spilled, and Tantalus tried to dab them up with his fingers, but the drops rolled away like quicksilver before he could touch them. He growled and turned toward the plate of barbecue. He picked up a fork and tried to stab a piece of brisket, but the plate skittered down the table and flew off the end, straight into the coals of the brazier.

"Blast!", Tantalus muttered.

"Ah, well," Dionysus said, his voice dripping with false sympathy, "Perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."

I hid my own amusement. It seemed Mr. D was happy to have someone worse off than him to mock.

"Eventually.", muttered Tantalus, staring at Dionysus's Diet Coke, "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?"

"You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment.", Percy said, "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."

Tantalus sneered at him. "A real scholar, aren't you, boy?"

"You must have done something really horrible when you were alive.", he spoke as if he was impressed, "What was it?"

Tantalus' eyes narrowed. Behind him, the satyrs were shaking their heads vigorously, trying to warn him but, as usual, Percy ignored them.

"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson.", Tantalus said, "I don't want any problems at my camp."

"Your camp has problems already ... sir."

"Oh, go sit down, Johnson.", Dionysus sighed, "I believe that table over there is yours-the one where no one else ever wants to sit."

Percy's face was burning with embarrassment. Fortunately, he had not forgotten the perils of talking back to Mr. D.

Percy said, "Come on, Tyson."

"Oh, no.", Tantalus said, "The monster stays here. We must decide what to do with it."

"Him.", Percy snapped, "His name is Tyson."

The new activities director raised an eyebrow.

"Tyson helped protect the camp.", Percy insisted, "He pounded one of those bronze bulls. Otherwise they would've burned down this whole place."

"Yes.", Tantalus sighed, "and what a pity that would've been."

Dionysus snickered.

"Leave us.", Tantalus ordered, "while we decide this creature's fate."

Tyson looked at Percy with fear in his one big eye, a stark reminder that despite the size difference, the latter was the elder brother.

"I'll be right over here, big guy.", he promised, "Don't worry. We'll find you a good place to sleep tonight."

Tyson nodded. "I believe you. You are my friend."

Percy went back to his table sulking. After the dinner was over, Tantalus had one of the satyrs blow the conch horn to get our attention for announcements.

"Yes, well," Tantalus said, once the talking had died down, "Another fine meal! Or so I am told."

As he spoke, he inched his hand toward his refilled dinner plate, as if maybe the food wouldn't notice what he was doing, but it did. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within six inches.

"And here on my first day of authority," he continued, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat." Dionysus clapped politely, leading to some halfhearted applause from the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, looking uncomfortable, but every time he tried to scoot out of the limelight, Tantalus pulled him back.

"And now some changes!", Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile, "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"

Murmuring broke out at all the tables-excitement, fear, disbelief.

"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice, "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations.", someone at the Apollo table called.

"Yes, yes!", Tantalus said, "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

An explosion of excited conversation followed. No chores for a month was quite the reward.

"But, sir!", Clarisse said.

She looked nervous, but she stood up to speak from the Ares table. I wondered whether it was because of Tantalus or had she always been insecure in situations that did not involve fighting. From what Ares had told us about their childhoods, it could as easily be the latter. Some of the campers snickered when they saw the YOU MOO, GIRL! sign on her back.

"What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots-"

"Ah, the hero of the day.", Tantalus exclaimed, "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"

Clarisse blinked, then blushed.

"Um, I didn't—"

"And modest, too."

Tantalus grinned. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

"But the tree—"

"And now," Tantalus said, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Iris Potter have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here."

Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson. Uneasy murmuring spread among the campers. A lot of sideways looks at Percy and me. Those who met my gaze immediately turned away finding something else interesting. Pathetic.

"Now, of course," he said, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks or let the resident huntress have a crack at it so she can show us how 'superior' her lot are. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes' cabin, possibly?"

It was total silence at the Hermes table. Travis and Connor Stoll developed a sudden interest in the tablecloth. I could not blame them. The Hermes cabin was so full to bursting that I had to find separate accommodations last year. There was no way they could take in a six-foot-three Cyclops.

"Sir," Annabeth spoke, "Cyclopes are also known to work for Lord Hepheastus and Lord Poseidon in their forges. Wouldn't that make it a private matter between the two cabins? Surely, they could come to an agreement on their own without wasting our time."

Her polite and respectful speech was directed entirely towards Mr. D while completely ignoring the new activities director. By his rapidly reddening face, I could tell Tantalus recognised the gesture for what it was, a snub. The amusing thing was that he could not do anything about it without looking like he was undermining Dionysus' authority. It was more confrontational than I would have done but entertaining nonetheless.

I did not know what Mr. D would have said because I was then distracted by the sound of everyone gasping. Tantalus scooted away from Tyson in surprise. He was glowing red and for a moment it seemed like he was on fire. Then the glow faded and he was back to normal. There was no hologram of fiery hammer that I had heard was part of the usual claiming. I knew what it was. A blessing from Hepheastus or to be more accurate, Hepheastus gave him asylum.

My unwanted brother's humiliation by your hand was one of the most popular videos in recent times, demigod. Certainly better than the reruns of Hercules' 12 labours I had to contend with., a gruff voice spoke in my head, as mortals say, a good turn deserves a good turn in return.

Then there was the familiar glow of claiming, a spinning green trident above Tyson's head. Dionysus spontaneously broke into laughter startling everyone.

"Ha! Now that old Hepheastus and Poseidon are taking responsibility, I don't have to waste any more of my time here. Goodbye."

He left via his...unique teleportation. His behaviour stunned even Tantalus to such an extent that he forgot to make up an insult based on Tyson's parentage.

X-X-X-X-X

The next few days were dull and as per routine. From what I learned, Percy and Beckendorf had come to some sort of an agreement where Tyson would sleep in Hepheastus cabin and dine at Poseidon's table. Apparently, the beds in Poseidon's cabin were too small for him. While Tyson was not exactly welcomed as a brother, the Hepheastus cabin treated him well and he had carved his own niche there. From what he told me, they were expected to create their own beds, with guidance from the seniors of course, and his creation had impressed them enough for the counsellor to take him as apprentice of sorts. While many people made fun of him, none dared to mock him openly, much to Tantalus' chagrin, not after the incident. An Aphrodite kid, a Japanese girl named Drew if I remember correctly, did that in the vicinity of a Hepheastus kid and later that night, while everyone was asleep, an automaton 'malfunctioned' and ended up in Aphrodite cabin where it leaked grease and motor oil all over Drew and her things. I was sure that the scream next morning had turned Hades, deep down in the Underworld, and Zeus, high up in Olympus, deaf.

Annabeth and Clarisse had bonded over their mutual hatred of Tantalus and organised the border patrol and other security measures behind the back of our substitute activities director. She had intially joined with Percy but she soon realized that while swallowing her intense dislike for Tyson for the sake of the Camp might be hard but working closely with him was much harder. After a few escalating arguments, she quit and joined another team.

I did not join any team but had made a few token appearances to watch Percy's team prepare. I know it was not sporting but I had never put any effort into things I had no interest in. Besides, Tyson had enough enthusiasm for all of us.

I, on the other hand, was busy with a different project. Ever since, I had seen the mess that was Hermes cabin, I had wondered how better it would be if it had Variable Space Expansion charms on it like Hogwarts Express carriages where the room changes its size depending on the number of people and space required. I later decided to teach and guide a child of Hecate to do it rather than directly interfere in the matters of another cabin, even if they would not have minded.

You would be wondering why they could not do it on their own. For that, you had to understand that the magic of the Greeks emphasised overwhelming power and rate. One way of using it was to manipulate Mist into physical projections called Mist forms similar to Shirou Emiya in Fate/Stay Night. It was Alabaster's speciality. Lou Ellen's speciality was to use magic circles. Anything subtle was usually taken care of by potions. Understanding it helped me with wand less magic but I had to admit it was limited for everyday use.

I decided to teach Lou Ellen Arithmancy as she was more familiar with using calculations for spells. She might not become as good as Luna or even me but if she could recreate the spell, it would be good enough. Like the old saying. Give a man a rabbit and he would be happy for a day, teach a man to hunt and he would be happy for life.

X-X-X-X-X

I pulled the string to the maximum and waited. Any time now. I heard a whirring sound and immediately shot the arrow.

"Missed.", came the child like voice of Tyson.

I tsked disappointed. I still had not hit it once.

I was practicing Archery. Rather than shoot continuously at a stationery target, I decided to challenge myself. I had Tyson make small automaton birds whose only purpose was to be a target and tried shooting them down while blindfolded. It was an exercise that should have benefited both of us, if only I could hit them.

I suddenly tilted my head and let the arrow pass by my ear. I removed the blindfold to find the idiot who had just signed their own death sentence. I sighed in exasperation when I saw that it was just Percy. You see, Percy and Archery was a dangerous combination. He could do incredulous feats with a bow and arrow that were beyond both Apollo and Artemis. It would have been nice, though, if any of those arrows actually ended up in the vicinity of the intended target. None of us had forgotten the incident where Percy had somehow shot an arrow at Chiron's tailbone while facing forward and with Chiron directly behind him correcting his mistakes.

"What are you doing here, Percy?", I asked him.

"Practicing archery.", he replied with a surprisingly straight face.

I sighed. If he was really intent on it, I might as well try helping him. I was certainly not having any success in my practice anyway. I had him widen his stance a little, loosen his shoulder and arm muscles and even had him hold the bow a little higher. The next arrow was not anywhere near the target either. The arrow did go forward. Perhaps, it could be considered as an improvement.

"Tyson, get me a large bucket of sea water. I want to see how well Percy does when he is in his element.", I said.

Tyson ran off shouting something like "Water for Percy". Quite an excitable fellow.

"What did you want to ask me that you were reluctant to in Tyson's presence?", I asked him.

He looked surprised.

"How did you -"

I gave him a look and he stopped speaking. I immediately cast a privacy spell Sirius had taught me that causes outside listeners to hear only the humming of a bee.

"Not many likes Tyson here. Annabeth, who supported his admission here, hates him so much that even talking about him irritates her. Even Hephaestus kids who are protective of him are uncomfortable in his presence. But, you don't have any problem with him, especially considering who your mother is. Atleast, I knew him for an year.", Percy said.

"And he is your brother?", I offered and he flinched.

"Was I that obvious?", he asked.

"To me, yes.", I replied.

"Have you ever heard of the term Imprinting?", I asked him to which he shook his head.

"It is usually meant for canine type creatures, you know dog-like, but it is applicable to various extents for all wild animals and monsters. Basically, if you raise an animal from young with love and affection, you gain a loyal friend for life even if the species generally consider humans as food. It is obvious that Tyson is loyal to you. As for my parentage, not many know this, but the wolves that accompany the Hunters are not ordinary wolves. They are Dire wolves, technically monsters, but due to being part of the Hunt, they don't go to Tartarus on their death.", I replied.

"If you are confused as to how to treat him, just think about what your mother would have done in your place and you will have your answer."

He looked relieved as if a heavy weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. It seemed my support meant a lot to him. I knew that having a monster for a sibling would never have been easy. I just never realised how much pressure he was under. After all, the only other person he could look to for counsel was Annabeth, enough said.

He smiled at me and I idly noted that his smile made him look more handsome.

"Oh! I see. There is something else."

He told me about the dreams he had been having these past few days. It was ironic that that Grover would stumble on to the very thing that we desperately needed and survive to tell us about it. Then again, Grover always had an interesting luck. First a daughter of Zeus, then a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Artemis and now this.

"If it was powerful enough for the satyrs to mistake it for Pan, it might be what Chiron was talking about. After the chariot race is over, we will ask permission to go on a quest.", I replied.

"What if they don't give us permission?", he asked.

I gave him an incredulous look with an eyebrow raised. "When have we ever obeyed the rules?"

He nodded. "Good point."

It was at that point that Tyson returned. I immediately cancelled the privacy spell. The bucket was large enough that he would have struggled had it not been for his Cyclops strength. I had Percy standing in the bucket barefoot and shoot. Well, he was no Orion. It was as if he was a normal demigod using a bow and arrow for the first time in his life. It was still a huge improvement though.

X-X-X-X-X

The day of the race had arrived. The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground. Thousands of birds were roosting in the trees-fat grey and white pigeons, except they did not coo like regular pigeons. They made an annoying metallic screeching sound that made me suspect that they were some kind of monsters. They seemed content to sit and watch. I decided to keep an eye on them just in case.

The racetrack had been built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods. Hephaestus' cabin had used the bronze bulls, which were completely tame since they had had their heads smashed in, to plow an oval track in a matter of minutes. There were rows of stone steps for us spectators-Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads, and all of the campers who were not participating. Mr. D did not show up. He never got up before ten.

"Right!", Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. A naiad had brought him a big platter of pastries, and as Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate eclair across the judge's table.

"You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!", Tantalus smiled at them like they were all naughty children, "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"

Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. They had a cool ride made of bronze and iron-even the horses, which were magical automatons similar to the Colchis bulls. I had no doubt that their chariot had all kinds of mechanical traps and more fancy options than James Bond's Aston Martin.

The Ares chariot was blood red, and pulled by two grisly horse skeletons. Clarisse climbed aboard with a batch of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops, and a bunch of other nasty toys.

Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers.

Poseidon's chariot looked cool too. It was blue and white, with wave designs on the sides and a trident painted on the front. Percy somehow got permission to use the pegasi to pull the chariot under the condition that if they start flying, his team would be disqualified. Considering that pegasi were much stronger and faster than the horses of the same size, he certainly got a good deal.

Hermes' chariot was green and had an archaic appearance, as if it had not been out of the garage in years. It didn't look like anything special, but it was manned by the Stoll brothers, and I was excited to see what dirty tricks they had schemed up. That left two chariots: one driven by Annabeth, and the other.

I noticed Percy talking to Annabeth and wondered what it was about. Soon, the conch horn sounded.

"Charioteers!", Tantalus called, "To your mark!"

Percy and Annabeth returned to their respective chariots. Everyone maneuvered their chariots to the starting line.

An interesting fact you should know about a Greek chariot was that it was built for speed, not safety or comfort. It was basically a wooden basket, open at the back, mounted on an axle between two wheels. The driver stood up the whole time, and you could feel every bump in the road. The carriage was made of such light wood that if you wipe out making the hairpin turns at either end of the track, you would probably tip over and crush both the chariot and yourself. I wondered how many comedic scenes I would get to see.

As the chariots lined up, more shiny-eyed pigeons gathered in the woods. They were screeching so loudly the other campers in the stands were starting to take notice, glancing nervously at the trees, which shivered under the weight of the birds. Tantalus did not look concerned, but he did have to speak up to be heard over the noise.

"Charioteers!", he shouted, "Attend your mark!"

He waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots roared to life. Hooves thundered against the dirt. The crowd cheered.

The moment the race started, Hermes chariot rammed into Apollo chariot causing it to flip over. The riders were thrown free, but their panicked horses dragged the golden chariot diagonally across the track. The Hermes team, Travis and Connor Stoll, were laughing at their supposed good luck, but not for long. The Apollo horses crashed into theirs, and the Hermes chariot flipped too, leaving a pile of broken wood and four rearing horses in the dust. Two chariots down in the first twenty feet. I loved this sport.

Annabeth was on lead making her turn around the first post followed by Percy, Beckendorf and in the last Clarisse. Soon, Hepheastus chariot started gaining on Poseidon's chariot. When they were level, Beckendorf released three sets of balls and chains which would have wrecked Percy's chariot if Tyson had not whacked them aside with a long pole. He then gave the Hephaestus chariot a good shove and sent them skittering sideways while they pulled ahead.

It was then that I noticed something concerning. The 'pigeons' had risen from the trees. They were spiraling like a huge tornado, heading toward the track. It was only a matter of time before they reached the stands. I looked around and realised that, other than Lee Fletcher, all the leaders were participating in the race and were too busy to notice the problem. I naturally ignored Tantalus chasing after pastries as he was useless anyway.

Lee then put two fingers in his mouth and let out a high pitched whistle. Every one turned to look at him. I guessed it must have been one of the practices that came up recently. He pointed out the rapidly approaching horde of demonic birds and they quickly stood up looking at him for orders. It seemed Annabeth had even prepared for an eventuality where neither she nor Clarisse was there. Always have a plan, indeed.

"Iris, can you cover for us?", he asked me.

"I will try my best. There are too many to shoot down. Better get ready quickly.", I replied.

I summoned my bow and arrows and started shooting. I could shoot six arrows at a time. With each of my arrows taking out anywhere between ten and twenty of them, I took out around hundred of them in an attempt. It did not even make a dent in their numbers. When I mentioned thousands, I meant it quite literally. I continued shooting them down to give others time.

Soon, many arrows flew through air that was not shot by me. I knew that we were only delaying the inevitable. After all, their arrows were limited in number. My arrows were limited in number too unlike my mother. The only consolation was that I was nowhere close to it.

They were so many birds that they had blotted out the Sun sending the Camp into darkness. It did not take long for the birds to get close enough for bow and arrow to be ineffective. I dismissed it and summoned my daggers. I noticed Athena and Ares kids taking out their shields and sighed. The Greek shields were designed for projectiles moving along a well defined path not birds that could change directions at a whim. I guessed they did not have better options and decided something was better than nothing.

I closed my eyes and let myself fall into the necessary mindset. I could hear the sound caused by their movement against the wind. I could feel the displacement of the wind. I could hear the sound of their beating wings and their clattering beaks. I let my instincts take over. Slash-Stab-Slash-Slash-Stab. I knew that I could not defend against every attack. There were too many of them. But my vitals were protected. I would have felt the pain of their sharp beaks piercing my skin and tearing away my flesh if I was not ignoring everything other than the attacks themselves.

Suddenly, I was broken out of my trance by a horrible sound. I looked around and saw the birds were affected worse than us. The demonic birds went nuts. They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to bash their own brains out. Then they abandoned the track altogether and flew skyward in a huge dark wave.

"Attack!", came Annabeth's order.

Now that I had come to my senses, I could recognise the song as one of Chiron's favourites. It seemed it was a good enough substitute for brass bells. I wondered whose idea was that, Percy's or Annabeth's. It seemed more Percy's style but it was possible for all our efforts at corrupting Annabeth to have borne fruit. I smirked as I imagined the look on Chiron's face on hearing it.

Lee took an arrow and pointed it at the Sun.

"Hail Apollo! God of True Sight, Bless this arrow with your Light", he spoke in Ancient Greek.

The arrow turned reddish yellow in colour and started shining. It was as if the arrow was absorbing sunlight which might actually be the case. He then notched the arrow, aimed at the centre of the formation and let go. The next thing we saw was the arrow hitting a bird. We were forced to look away from the bright glow that followed. It was as if a second Sun was born at that point. We saw a sea of fire on the sky which soon dissipated. I noticed a few flying along the horizon, the ones lucky enough to be at the edge of the formation.

It was then that I noticed there were many dead birds on the ground and they did not seem to be dissipating any time soon. It was then that I realised that Apollo kids had used the blunted mortal metal arrows meant for the games. I guessed they did not have the time to retrieve celestial bronze arrows from their cabin. Symphalic birds individually were weak enough to be killed by mortal weapons. Their number was the problem. As someone once said, sometimes quantity was a quality by itself.

The camp was safe, but the wreckage was not pretty. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. Almost everyone was wounded, bleeding from multiple bird pecks. The kids from Aphrodite's cabin were screaming because their hairdos had been ruined and their clothes pooped on.

"Bravo!", Tantalus said, "We have our first winner!"

He walked to the finish line and awarded the golden laurels for the race to a stunned looking Clarisse. Then he turned and smiled at Percy, a creepy looking smile. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race."

The way Tantalus saw it, the Stymphalian birds had simply been minding their own business in the woods and would not have attacked if Annabeth, Tyson, and Percy had not disturbed them with their bad chariot driving. Percy told Tantalus to go chase a doughnut, which, while funny, did not help his mood. He sentenced them to kitchen patrol-scrubbing pots and platters all afternoon in the underground kitchen with the cleaning harpies.

I certainly did not envy them because not a moment later, Tantalus ordered a special luncheon banquet to celebrate Clarisse's chariot victory, a full-course meal featuring country-fried Stymphalian death-bird. It was well cooked and the sheer amount of trouble the birds gave us made the meal more delicious.

X-X-X-X-X

That night at the campfire, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. They tried to get everybody's spirits up, but it was not easy after the afternoon's bird attack. We won, yes, but at what cost. We all sat around a semicircle of stone steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their guitars and picked their lyres.

We did all the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean", "I Am My Own Great Great Great Great Grandpa", "This Land is Minos's Land."

The bonfire was enchanted, Hestia's gift to the Camp, so the louder you sang, the higher it rose, changing color and heat with the mood of the crowd. On a good night, I had seen it twenty feet high, bright purple, and so hot the whole front row's marshmallows burst into the flames. Tonight, the fire was only five feet high, barely warm, and the flames were the color of lint.

Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this. Then he gave Tantalus a distasteful look and headed back toward the Big House. I guessed even the god under house arrest loved and respected Hestia and the presence of someone like Tantalus was the ultimate insult to the goddess of Home and Hearth.

When the last song was over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!"

He came forward with a toasted marshmallow on a stick and tried to pluck it off, acting all casual. But before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew off the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames. It was only fitting that he be denied her blessing.

Tantalus turned back toward us, smiling coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

"Sir," Percy said.

Tantalus' eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"

Some of the Ares campers snickered, but Percy ignored them and stood. Annabeth stood up with him.

Percy said, "We have an idea to save the camp."

Dead silence, but I could tell he had gotten everybody's interest, because the campfire flared bright yellow. I was surprised he was going to ask permission at that time. Thinking back on it, it was indeed the best opportunity. Not only could Tantalus not deny conversation ever happened, he could also be pressured into agreeing.

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly, "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots—"

"The Golden Fleece.", Percy said, "We know where it is."

The flames burned orange. Before Tantalus could stop him, Percy blurted out his dream about Grover and Polyphemus' island. Annabeth stepped in and reminded everybody what the Fleece could do. It sounded more convincing coming from her.

"The Fleece can save the camp.", she concluded, "I'm certain of it."

"Nonsense.", said Tantalus, "We don't need saving."

We all stared at him until Tantalus started looking uncomfortable.

"Besides," he added quickly, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Yes, I would.", Percy said.

By the way he said it, I knew he was just saying it to be obstinate. I was surprised again. He had never told me that. By the look on Annabeth's face, she was not told either.

"30, 31, 75, 12," Percy said.

Wait, were those the numbers the Grey Sisters had given us about the location we seek.

"They're sailing coordinates.", Percy said, "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies."

Even Annabeth looked impressed. I guessed the fact that Percy learned something in school was an impressive feat by itself.

"30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right! That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"

"Wait just a minute.", Tantalus said.

"We need a quest! We need a quest!"

I quickly started the chant knowing better than to let him get a word in. The other campers took it up from me. The flames rose higher.

"It isn't necessary!", Tantalus insisted like a mad man protesting the declaration of his insanity.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"

Ironically, Tantalus had greater success in uniting the Camp than Annabeth by being the common enemy everyone hated.

"Fine!", Tantalus shouted, his eyes blazing with anger, "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!"

"Very well," he agreed, "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."

Percy straightened his shoulders as if he was going to be selected. I knew otherwise. Mr. D might have selected him and went on a spiel about how he would hopefully die but Tantalus had already made his opinions clear. He would deliberately choose someone else in spite.

"I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!", Tantalus announced, "And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious." Tantalus looked at Annabeth and Percy as if he wanted to flay them alive which might actually be the case.

"The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest ... Clarisse!"

The fire flickered a thousand different colors. The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering, "CLARISSE! CLARISSE!"

Clarisse stood up, looking stunned. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride.

"I accept the quest!"

"Wait!", Percy shouted ignoring my gestures to stop, "Grover is my friend. The dream came to me."

I mentally facepalmed. He should have kept quiet and acted supportive of Clarisse. I could then have convinced her to take him along. Instead, he made himself look like a glory hound and sore loser.

"Sit down!", yelled one of the Ares campers, "You had your chance last summer!"

"Yeah, he just wants to be in the spotlight again!", another said.

Clarisse glared at him.

"I accept the quest!", she repeated, "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares campers cheered even louder. Annabeth protested, and the other Athena campers joined in. Everybody else started taking sides-shouting and arguing and throwing marshmallows. I thought it was going to turn into a full-fledged s'more war until Tantalus shouted, "Silence, you brats!"

His tone stunned everyone into silence. He was not just angry. He was furious.

"Sit down!" he ordered. "And I will tell you a ghost story."

I saw everyone move back to their seats reluctantly. I had a feeling that they could fell what I had always felt from him, the evil aura of a monster wearing human skin.

"Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the Gods!", Tantalus put his hand on his chest, and I knew that he was talking about himself.

"This king," he said, "was even allowed to feast on Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe-just one little doggie bag, mind you-the gods punished him. They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him! And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children-just-like-you."

He pointed a crooked finger at several people in the audience.

"Do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?", Tantalus asked softly, "Do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?"

No one dared answer. The firelight glowed dark blue, reflecting evilly on Tantalus's crooked face.

"Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," Tantalus croaked.

Of course, they did, I thought. He basically rubbed it in their face what Kronos had done to them. The fact that the ever kind and forgiving Hestia cursed him in disgust was telling.

He continued, "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to him or questioned his authority. And do you know what? Rumor has it that the king's spirit now dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children. And so ... are there any more complaints, before we send Clarisse off on her quest?"

Silence. Tantalus nodded at Clarisse. "The Oracle, my dear. Go on."

She shifted uncomfortably, like even she did not want glory at the price of being Tantalus's pet.

"Sir—"

"Go!" he snarled.

She bowed awkwardly and hurried off toward the Big House and more importantly away from Tantalus.

"What about you, Percy Jackson?", Tantalus asked, "No comments from our dishwasher?"

Percy, for once, did the intelligent thing and kept quiet.

"Good.", Tantalus said, "And let me remind everyone-no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries ... well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well."

With a wave of Tantalus' hand, the fire was extinguished, and we trailed off toward our cabins in the dark.

X-X-X-X-X


	4. From Whirlpool To Fire

**POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS**

Chapter 4 : From Whirlpool To Fire

X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

X-X-X-X-X

This chapter will be in Iris' Pov unless stated otherwise.

X-X-X-X-X

It was around seven hundred metres. I accounted for the oscillatory movement due to the flowing river and I fired. Soon, all the heads were sliced off and necks causterised and the Hydra dispersed into the dust. I smirked smugly on seeing them staring at me gobsmacked.

"Hmph! I would have left you three here if Iris had not begged me and I decided to indulge her on a whim.", Clarisse sneered, "Come Aboard."

They entered the battleship and Percy tossed something at me. It was bottle covered with engravings of a snake. I knew that it contained hydra venom and it could only be opened in the same way as that of Chamber of Secrets : Parseltongue. It seemed the spoils did not always have to be a weapon, atleast in the traditional sense.

I guessed I should tell you what happened. There was nothing much to explain. The three idiots ran away on their own without inviting me. I was lucky I was close enough to Clarisse that she allowed me to join her.

We left the Camp at dawn. Clarisse sacrificed her golden laurels to Ares and she got the dingy old ship with its undead crew in return. As if I had not had enough in Asphodel Fields. Apparently, they were the losers of the Civil War and because they lost they would have to obey Ares or something. I did not meet any Roman demigods. So, it might only be applicable for ordinary mortals. This quest was their chance to get peace at last. From what I learned of American history in my time at the Camp, the Confederates were the ones who supported slavery. So, you could understand why I was so uncomfortable with them. Atleast, they were not Independence movement soldiers. Thank the Fates for small mercies.

"You are in so much trouble," Clarisse informed them gleefully.

We gave them a ship tour, through dark rooms overcrowded with dead sailors. We showed them the coal bunker, the boilers and engine, which huffed and groaned like it would explode any minute. They then saw the pilothouse and the powder magazine and gunnery deck (Clarisse's favorite) with two Dahlgren smoothbore cannons on the port and starboard sides and a Brooke nine-inch rifled gun fore and aft-all specially refitted to fire celestial bronze cannon balls.

Everywhere we went, dead Confederate sailors stared at us, their ghostly bearded faces shimmering over their skulls. They approved of Annabeth because she told them she was from Virginia. They were interested in Percy, too, because he had the same last name as the Southern general but then I gleefully told them he was from New York. They all hissed and muttered curses about Yankees.

Tyson was terrified of them. All through the tour, he insisted Annabeth hold his hand, which she did not look too thrilled about.

I, on other hand, enjoyed their discomfort. I was not going to forgive them just because they mentioned something about five minute limit. I had to suffer the undead since the beginning of the quest. I just ensured that they would be suffering too.

Finally, we were escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were little bigger than the cupboard I grew up in, but still much bigger than any other room on board. Have I told you how much I hated being here?

The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr. Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen. I did not want to eat anything served by ghosts, but my hunger overruled my aversion.

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity.", Clarisse told them smugly, "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

"Did they give you this ship?", Percy asked.

"Course not. My father did."

"Ares?"

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixed us with a hungry stare.

"If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Why was I not surprised? The undead served Hades because they were loyal to him while they served Ares because they were bullied into it. Typical.

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters-"

"Good! I'll blow him out of the water.", she replied.

"Wait", I said, "When did you meet Luke?"

Percy then explained Hermes convincing him to leave without permission, the gifts, ending up in Luke's ship, the two bear brothers, their 'escape', the safe house and finally the Hydra.

It was concerning. I did not know whether Percy or Annabeth understood the significance of their find. The fact that Luke had the guts to sail around so casually in the sea after what he did to Percy last summer meant there was someone really powerful protecting him from Poseidon. There were not many deities that powerful, only two that I knew about.

Triton, son of Poseidon, Prince of the Sea. Being God of Navy and Ships, he was capable of shielding Princess Andromeda from his father's gaze. It was an unspoken but well known fact that the gods paid less attention to them than their half mortal counterparts. It was not uncommon for them to lash out due to jealousy.

Another was Oceanus, Titan of Deep Oceans. He was powerful enough to shield the ship from Poseidon. But, from what I knew, his loyalty was to none but himself. He was as conniving and self serving as anyone could get. He only cared about being on the winning side and would wait long enough to be sure before throwing his lot with anyone. Perhaps, it was what Kronos meant when he said he had already won.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "We have to combine forces. Let us help you-"

"No!", Clarisse pounded the table, "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance. Besides, from what I have seen just now, Iris is more than enough."

Annabeth and Percy looked at me as if they expected me to convince her. I simply shrugged.

"Hey! She is the leader. I am just along for the ride.", I said.

"Ha! Even she agrees with me.", Clarisse said looking smug.

"Iris, I know you are angry at us for leaving without you and I am sure you felt we abandoned you but-"

I held out a hand to stop her. "I know I have a tendency to hold grudges but I am not unreasonable. I do not hold any grudge against you. I simply decided to have some faith in her. Unless you are afraid that, if given the chance, Clarisse might grow into a better leader than you..."

I immediately saw the effect my words had on her. She was not just angry. She looked murderous, her stormy grey eyes darkening as if there was a miniature storm inside destroying everything. Along with the greater height advantage she had over me due to her recent growth spurt, I could finally see why everyone considered Athena as terrifying.

Demigods tended to inherit some weird characteristics from their divine parent. Athena was born an adult. So, unless they ignored their divine nature and played mortal like Percy did last year, her kids reached their peak much quicker than others. I had a feeling that when she would be fifteen years old, the age of adulthood in Ancient Greek culture, it would be difficult to believe that she was not in her early twenties.

Annabeth looked like she was about to say something to me but then thought better of it. She turned to Clarisse and said, "What's to become of us, _leader_?"

"All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go ..."

"So we're prisoners?", Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now."

Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr Pepper.

"Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

I felt bad for using her pride to get her to cooperate especially because I personally agreed with her. But, I had a feeling that putting pressure on Clarisse when she was so defensive was a bad idea. Once she was confident in her leadership, she would be more accepting of help and suggestions.

X-X-X-X-X

That night I had a dream that was not a memory of Selene. I was in a small house that was not remarkable in any way other than that it was decaying. I did not know where I was nor had I seen the house before but the sight before me felt wrong somehow as if the house was supposed to be livelier, more beautiful. I felt uncomfortable. I knew there was a great predator nearby but I did not know how I knew.

"Well, what do you have to say?"

The voice appeared so suddenly that I was startled. I looked around and saw her. She wore punk-style clothes with silver chains on her wrists. She had spiky black hair, dark eye-liner around her stormy blue eyes, and a spray of freckles across her nose. She looked slightly pale and emaciated as if she had been ill for some time. I had not seen her before but I knew who she was, the girl who became the hero of the Camp without ever stepping a foot on it, Thalia.

Well?" she asked. "Are we going to stop it or not?"

I realised, to my surprise, that she was talking to me. That had never happened before. I waited to see whether I would automatically talk like in Selene's memories when I was her, but the only thing that happened was the girl getting more impatient.

I spoke but no sound came out as if whoever materialised me screwed up and left my voice box behind. I tried to move but whatever construct housed my presence did not obey my mental commands. If it was how Percy's dreams tended to be, I could understand why they made him uncomfortable.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Fine. Leave it to me and Aegis."

She tapped her wrist and her silver chains transformed, flattening and expanding into a huge shield. It was silver and bronze, with the monstrous face of Medusa protruding from the center. It looked like a death mask, as if the gorgon's real head had been pressed into the metal. I repressed my instinctive need to shiver and turn my head, and looked at it closely. So, that was the famous Aegis, second most powerful shield ever held in mortal hands, first being Ajax's Rho Aias of course. True, Athena's personal Aegis was more powerful but it was a godly shield.

The girl suddenly drew out her sword and got into a stance facing forward. I did know what she was doing. Suddenly, I knew it was coming even if I did not know what it was. I could not see, hear or smell it, whatever it was, but it seemed Thalia could. I did not know what happened when it attacked because I then woke to alarms ringing throughout the ship.

X-X-X-X-X

I was walking up the stairs looking for Clarisse when something made me freeze. I felt a familiar and unwelcome presence. I suddenly felt like picking a fight, punching a dead Confederate, damn slaving bastard, but I knew it was not my feelings and pushed them aside.

Instead of going up, I crept to the edge of the ventilation grate and saw Percy peering down into the boiler deck and I joined him.

Clarisse was standing right below us, talking to an image that shimmered in the steam from the boilers-a muscular man in black leather biker clothes, with a military haircut, red-tinted sunglasses, and a knife strapped to his side.

"I don't want excuses, little girl!", he growled.

"Y-yes, father.", Clarisse mumbled.

"You don't want to see me mad, do you?"

"No, father."

"No, father.", Ares mimicked, "You're pathetic. I should've let one of my sons take this quest."

"I'll succeed!", Clarisse promised, her voice trembling, "I'll make you proud."

"You'd better.", he warned, "You asked me for this quest, girl. If you let that slimeball Jackson kid and the conniving witch steal it from you—"

"But the Oracle said—"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAID!", Ares bellowed with such force that his image shimmered, "You will succeed. And if you don't ..."

He raised his fist. Even though he was only a figure in the steam, Clarisse flinched.

"Do we understand each other?", Ares growled.

The alarm bells rang again. We heard voices coming toward us, officers yelling orders to ready the cannons. We crept back from the ventilation grate and made our way upstairs to join Annabeth and Tyson on the spar deck.

"What a jerk!", I said.

He shrugged. "Some people never change, I guess."

"Actually, he used to be worse."

He looked at me surprised.

"I didn't know it was possible to be worse than that.", he said pointing in the direction they used to be.

"Clarisse atleast got a chance to prove herself. One of the Hunters spent her entire life trying to make her father proud. When she finally met Ares, the obnoxious jerk told to her face that he did not care how strong she was, a woman's purpose was to spring out strong male warriors who would make him proud. As she had not done that, according to him, she was a failure.", I replied.

"Ouch!"

"Exactly. As if a donkey can understand the value of a diamond. Mama is quite proud of her and she is happy where she is."

"Mama?"

My eyes widened in shock as I realised what I had let slip. My cheeks felt hot and I hoped I was not blushing.

"Hey! That's between Artemis and me. You will not speak of it to anyone else.", I said waving my finger at him.

"Alright! Alright! I won't.", he replied holding out his hands in surrender pose though the smile on his face was too similar to that of the Stoll twins for me to be comfortable.

I guessed I would have to keep an eye on him. Clarisse came up the stairs right after us. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer and peered toward the horizon.

"At last. Captain, full steam ahead!"

I looked in the direction she was looking at. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea-an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, there was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"Hurricane?", Annabeth asked a few minutes later and I knew they could now see.

No.", Clarisse said, "Charybdis."

Annabeth paled. "Are you crazy?"

"Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla." Clarisse pointed to the top of the cliffs, and I felt dread creep up my spine knowing what lived there. .

"What do you mean the only way?", Percy asked, "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything? If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them."

It reminded me of platform 9 3/4 where the only entrance from non-magical side was through the pillar. Maybe, they were created with similar principles.

"What about the Clashing Rocks?", Annabeth said, "That's another gateway. Jason used it."

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons.", Clarisse said, "Monsters, on the other hand ..."

I sighed. "Annie, what Clarisse meant is that we would have to go through both the gateways anyway to complete the quest. The choice is about the order in which we do it. The Clashing Rocks is all about timing and speed but the speed required is beyond the capabilities of our ship. She intends to...'appropriate' a lighter and faster transport along the way. Here, we need a heavier transport like this old warhorse so that Charybdis won't easily drag us into its mouth. Our ship also has an inbuilt weapon system with which Clarisse can blast away at everything to relieve her frustrations. Better the monsters than us."

Annabeth kept quiet for a few seconds, her Eye of the Mind (True) skill analysing all the possibilities.

"It's a sound decision.", she admitted with grudging respect.

"Hmph! Finally, you understand what I am talking about, Wise Girl."

Clarisse turned to the captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"

"Aye, m'lady."

The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed. "Clarisse," Percy said, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?"

"And spits it back out again, yeah."

"What about Scylla?"

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship."

"Choose Scylla then.", Percy said, "Iris can speak to it in snake language and convince it to let us pass by."

"Prissy, did you really believe that I did not think of it myself? It doesn't work like that.", Clarisse replied.

"Perce, we snakes have a hierarchy depending on a combination of potency of venom, size and magical/divine nature. If I order those well below me, their obedience is instinctual and absolute. Those near my level has to be reasoned or bribed. Those above consider me as food. Snakes are also intensely territorial and my presence will only make it more aggressive.", I said.

"So, Scylla is a bad idea.", he said.

"Yes."

The engine hummed. The boilers were heating up so much I could feel the deck getting warm beneath my feet. The smokestacks billowed. The red Ares flag whipped in the wind. As we got closer to the monsters, the sound of Charybdis got louder and louder. Every time Charybdis inhaled, the ship shuddered and lurched forward. Every time she exhaled, we rose in the water and were buffeted by ten foot waves.

Undead sailors calmly went about their business on the spar deck. I guess they had fought a losing cause before, so this did not bother them. Or maybe they didn't care about getting destroyed because they were already deceased. Neither thought made me feel any better.

Annabeth stood next to Percy, gripping the rail.

"You still have your thermos full of wind?"

Percy nodded. "But it's too dangerous to use with a whirlpool like that. More wind might just make things worse."

"What about controlling the water?", she asked, "You're Poseidon's son. You've done it before."

"Don't bother. It's not going to work. To control water here, he would have to overpower Charybdis which is impossible even with Poseidon's blessing. She is the daughter of Poseidon and Gaea after all.", I interjected.

"We need a backup plan.", Annabeth said, "This isn't going to work."

"Annabeth is right.", Tyson said, "Engine's no good."

"What do you mean?", I asked.

I knew that the system was under strain but I had believed that it would hold until we passed the gateway. But, if Tyson was so worried, perhaps, the situation was worse than I thought.

"Pressure. Pistons need fixing."

Before he could explain, the ship lurched forward and I was thrown to the deck. We were in the whirlpool.

"Full reverse!", Clarisse screamed above the noise. The sea churned around us, waves crashing over the deck. The iron plating was now so hot it steamed. "Get us within fir-ing range! Make ready starboard cannons!"

Dead Confederates rushed back and forth. The propeller grinded into reverse, trying to slow the ship, but we kept sliding toward the center of the vortex. A zombie sailor burst out of the hold and ran to Clarisse. His gray uniform was smoking. His beard was on fire.

"Boiler room overheating, ma'am! She's going to blow!"

"Well, get down there and fix it!"

"Can't!", the sailor yelled, "We're vaporizing in the heat."

Clarisse pounded the side of the casemate. "All I need is a few more minutes! Just enough to get in range!"

"We're going in too fast.", the captain said grimly, "Prepare yourself for death."

"No!", Tyson bellowed, "I can fix it."

Clarisse looked at him incredulously. "You?"

"He's a Cyclops.", I said, "He's immune to fire. And he knows better than all of us about machines. He only has to keep it going till we pass through. After that, we can decide whether we should abandon the ship or give it complete overhaul."

"Go!", yelled Clarisse.

"Tyson, no!", Percy grabbed his arm. "It's too dangerous!"

He patted Percy's hand.

"Only way, brother."

His expression was determined-confident, even. I had never seen him look like this before. It was a glimpse into the kind of man-Cyclops he would grow up to become.

"I will fix it. Be right back."

I watched him go wondering whether Artemis felt the same about me when she heard of me leaving on my first quest, worried yet proud. I wished the entire Camp was watching that moment so I could know how many of them could still deny that Tyson was as much of a hero as any of them.

I placed a hand on Percy's shoulder and said, "It's his area of expertise. If he is confident about fixing it, we will simply have to trust him."

Charybdis appeared only a few hundred yards away, through a swirl of mist and smoke and water. The first thing I noticed was the reef-a black crag of coral with a fig tree clinging to the top, an oddly peaceful thing in the middle of a maelstrom. All around it, water curved into a funnel, like light around a black hole. Then I saw the horrible thing anchored to the reef just below the waterline-an enormous mouth with slimy lips and mossy teeth the size of rowboats. And worse, the teeth had braces, bands of corroded scummy metal with pieces of fish and driftwood and floating garbage stuck between them.

Charybdis was an orthodontist's nightmare. She was nothing but a huge black maw with bad teeth alignment and a serious overbite, and she had done nothing for centuries but eat without brushing after meals. I was suddenly glad Hermione was an ordinary witch. That sight would have scarred her for life.

As I watched, the entire sea around her was sucked into the void-sharks, schools of fish, a giant squid, I realized that in a few seconds, the CSS Birmingham would be next. "Lady Clarisse," the captain shouted, "Starboard and forward guns are in range!"

"Fire!", Clarisse ordered.

Three rounds were blasted into the monster's maw. One blew off the edge of an incisor. Another disappeared into her gullet. The third hit one of Charybdis's retaining bands and shot back at us, snapping the Ares flag off its pole. I guessed even the darkest clouds had their silver lining.

"Again!", Clarisse ordered. The gunners reloaded, but I knew it would not be enough to even hurt it. If she felt useful by doing it, I was not going to complain.

Then the vibrations in the deck changed. The hum of the engine got stronger and steadier. The ship shuddered and we started pulling away from the mouth.

"Tyson did it!", Annabeth said.

"As if there was any doubt.", I said proudly.

"Wait!", Clarisse said, "We need to stay close!"

"We'll die!", Percy said, "We have to move away."

"Prissy!", Clarisse snapped, "We want Charybdis to push us beyond Scylla's range. For that, we need to stay close."

I gripped the rail as the ship fought against the suction. The broken Ares flag raced past us and lodged in Charybdis's braces. We were not making much progress, but at least we were holding our own. Tyson had somehow given us just enough juice to keep the ship from being sucked in.

Suddenly, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Water washed over Charybdis. Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water, ejecting everything inedible, including our cannonballs, one of which slammed into the side of the CSS Birmingham with a ding like the bell on a carnival game.

We were thrown backward on a wave that must have been forty feet high. For a moment, I thought we were about to capsize, but Percy somehow managed to keep the ship upright, but we were still spinning out of control, hurtling toward the cliffs on the opposite side of the strait.

Another smoldering sailor burst out of the hold. He stumbled into Clarisse, almost knocking them both overboard.

"The engine is about to blow!"

"Where's Tyson?", Percy demanded.

"Still down there.", the sailor said, "Holding it together somehow, though I don't know for how much longer."

The captain said, "We have to abandon ship."

"No!", Clarisse yelled.

"We have no choice, m'lady. The hull is already cracking apart! She can't—"

He never finished his sentence. Quick as lightning, something brown and green shot from the sky, snatched up the captain, and lifted him away. All that was left were his leather boots. I paled as I realised that Charybdis had shot us right into Scylla's range rather than beyond it.

Suddenly, I jumped back and something smashed into the deck with enough force to punch a hole in it. It retreated as quickly throwing around many wooden splinters. Suddenly, I was glad for my blindfolded training. I could not have escaped without my slight precognition abilities. It was simply too fast.

~Intruders...home...die...food~

I realised that it did not have enough mental capabilities to differentiate me from others. I did not know whether it was good or bad thing.

"Scylla!", a sailor yelled, as another column of reptilian flesh shot from the cliffs and snapped him up. It happened so fast it was like watching a laser beam rather than a monster. I could barely even make out the thing's face, just a flash of teeth and scales.

I saw Percy uncap Riptide and try to swipe at the monster as it carried off another deckhand, but he was way too slow.

"Everyone get below!", Percy yelled.

"We can't!", Clarisse drew her own sword, "Below deck is in flames."

"Lifeboats!", Annabeth said, "Quick!"

"They'll never get clear of the cliffs.", Clarisse said, "We'll all be eaten."

"We have to try. Percy, the thermos."

"I can't leave Tyson!"

"We have to get the boats ready!"

Clarisse surprisingly took Annabeth's command without protest. I guessed she knew the stakes. She and a few of her undead sailors uncovered one of the two emergency rowboats while Scylla's heads rained from the sky like a meteor shower with teeth, picking off Confederate sailors one after another.

"Get the other boat."

Percy threw Annabeth the thermos. "I'll get Tyson."

"You can't!", she said, "The heat will kill you!"

Percy ignored her and ran straight for the boiler hatch. Annabeth cursed to herself and then dragged me with her to the lifeboat. Once we got down onto the waters, we saw Percy being lifted to the caves by one of the Scylla's heads. He somehow managed to poke her in the eye causing her to drop him. Considering it happened when he was more than hundred feet up in air, it was not exactly a good thing. To make matters worse, the ship exploded while he was falling sending many burnt pieces of iron and debris up towards him. Annabeth opened the thermos and sent a gust of wind to keep the pieces away from Percy. She might have opened the thermos more than she intended because at that moment, all hell broke loose.

X-X-X-X-X

We were in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of grey uniform fabric waiting for Percy to wake up. We had found him and managed to fish him out of the sea. From what we could see, he was exhausted but was not injured in any way. I had always thought his automatic regeneration in the sea was ridiculous but at the moment, I was thankful for it. Perhaps, it had something to do with water being universally associated with healing. After all, no other demigod children had ever had that ability, not even Apollo's kids. While I could heal myself in the woods, it was me consciously using natural energy rather than the domain healing me on its own like for Percy. We saw Percy wake up and try to sit.

"Rest.", she said, "You're going to need it."

"Tyson ... ?"

She shook her head. "Percy, I'm really sorry."

We were silent while the waves tossed us up and down.

"He may have survived.", she said halfheartedly, "I mean, fire can't kill him."

"He could have the same healing ability that you do.", I said trying to be more convincing.

Percy nodded. If he noticed that we were not as confident in our words, he kept quiet about it.

Waves lapped at the boat. We showed him some things we had salvaged from the wreckage-Hermes' thermos (now empty), a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper. We had found his knapsack, bitten in half by Scylla's teeth. Most of the stuff had floated away, but we managed to save Hermes' bottle of multivitamins. I assumed he had his sword with him as his clothes still had pockets intact.

We sailed for hours. Now that we were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like Hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too-as if a thunderstorm was coming. Or something even more dangerous.

No matter which way we turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into my eyes. We took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading ourselves with the sail as best we could and we talked about Percy's latest dream of Grover. By Annabeth's estimate, we had less than twenty four hours to find Grover, assuming his dream was accurate, and assuming the Cyclops Polyphemus did not change his mind and try to marry Grover earlier.

"Yeah," Percy said bitterly, "You can never trust a Cyclops."

Annabeth stared across the water.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I was wrong about Tyson, okay? I wish I could tell him that."

Annabeth was a proud person. The fact that she admitted to our faces that she was wrong was an indication of the effect Tyson had on her. Even the most oblivious dunce could detect the regret and guilt in her voice. It must be hard knowing someone died for you and having no good memory of him to remember.

"Annabeth, what's Chiron's prophecy?", Percy asked.

It was a blatant attempt to change the subject but we did not mind. I had to admit I too was curious about the prophecy.

She pursed her lips. "Percy, I shouldn't—"

"I know Chiron promised the gods he wouldn't tell me. But you didn't promise, did you?"

"Knowledge isn't always good for you."

"Your mom is the wisdom goddess!"

"I know! But every time heroes learn the future, they try to change it, and it never works."

"The gods are worried about something I'll do when I get older.", Percy guessed, "Something when I turn sixteen."

Annabeth twisted her Yankees cap in her hands, a sign of her nervousness.

"Percy, I don't know the full prophecy, but it warns about a half-blood child of the Big Three-the next one who lives to the age of sixteen. That's the real reason Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three who reaches sixteen will be a dangerous weapon."

"Why?"

"Because that hero will decide the fate of Olympus. He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it."

I let that sink in. I was suddenly quite glad I was not the subject of any prophecy. For a moment, I felt that the universe was laughing at me for some reason but I ignored it. It must have been my imagination.

"That's why Kronos is trying so hard to tempt me into his side."

She nodded. "You could be very useful to him. If he can get you on his side, the gods will be in serious trouble."

"But if it's me in the prophecy—"

"We'll only know that if you survive three more years. That can be a long time for a halfblood. When Chiron first learned about Thalia, he assumed she was the one in the prophecy. That's why he was so desperate to get her safely to camp. Then she went down fighting and got turned into a pine tree and none of us knew what to think. Until you came along."

"If Hades was hiding his children somewhere and one of them turned 16, well, no one would know the prophecy was completed.", I said.

"Is it just me or did it sound oddly specific?", Annabeth asked.

"It's just your imagination, Annabeth."

She looked at me scrutinising me as if I was going to suddenly spill out my secrets. When it did not happen, she just shook her head.

"You know what, I think it's better I not know. I have a feeling it's a one way path to madness.", she said to which I simply smirked.

On our port side, a spiky green dorsal fin about fifteen feet long curled out of the water and disappeared.

"This kid in the prophecy ... he or she couldn't be like, a Cyclops?", Percy asked, "The Big Three have lots of monster children."

Annabeth shook her head. "The Oracle said 'half-blood.' That always means half-human, half-god. There's really nobody alive who it could be, except you."

"Then why do the gods even let me live? It would be safer to kill me."

"You're right."

"Thanks a lot."

"Percy, I don't know. I guess some of the gods would like to kill you, but they're probably afraid of offending Poseidon. Other gods ... maybe they're still watching you, trying to decide what kind of hero you're going be. You could be a weapon for their survival, after all."

"Then there is the fact that you are a known quantity. They know about your fondness for the Camp, they know about your love for your mother and where she lives. So, the situation is under control. If they kill you, the next Prophecy child would be an unknown hero with unknown agenda working for an unknown benefactor.", I said.

Annabeth spoke, "The real question is ... what will you do in three years? What decision will you make?"

"Did the prophecy give any hints?", Percy asked.

Annabeth hesitated. Maybe she would have told us more, but just then a seagull swooped down out of nowhere and landed on our makeshift mast. Annabeth looked startled as the bird dropped a small cluster of leaves into her lap.

"Land," she said, "There's land nearby!"

Sure enough, there was a line of blue and brown in the distance. I could make out an island with a small mountain in the center, a dazzling white collection of buildings, a beach dotted with palm trees, and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats. The current was pulling our rowboat toward what looked like a tropical paradise.

X-X-X-X-X

"Welcome!", said a lady with a clipboard in hand.

She looked like a flight attendant-blue business suit, perfect makeup, hair pulled back in a ponytail. She shook our hands as we stepped onto the dock. With the dazzling smile she gave us, it was as if we had just gotten off the Princess Andromeda rather than a banged up rowboat.

Then again, our rowboat was not the weirdest ship in port. Along with a bunch of pleasure yachts, there was a U.S. Navy submarine, several dugout canoes, and an old-fashioned three masted sailing ship. There was a helipad with a "Channel Five Fort Lauderdale" helicopter on it, and a short runway with a Learjet and a propeller plane that looked like a World War II fighter. Maybe they were replicas for tourists to look at or something.

"Is this your first time with us?", the clipboard lady inquired.

Annabeth and I exchanged looks.

Annabeth said, "Umm ..."

"First-time-at-spa.", the lady said as she wrote on her clipboard, "Let's see ..."

She looked us up and down critically.

"Mmm. A herbal wrap to start for the young ladies. And of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."

"A what?", Percy asked.

She was too busy jotting down notes to answer.

It seemed my suspicions were true. We were in Aphrodite's spa. Well, if Ares could have a fight club, it was not out of the norm for the Aphrodite to have a spa run by her kids.

"Right!", She said with a breezy smile, "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to speak with you personally before the luau. Come, please."

"I guess it couldn't hurt.", Annabeth muttered.

I wondered whether C.C. was a favoured immortal daughter of Aphrodite. Hopefully, our stay here would be more pleasant than that at the fight club.

The place was amazing, I had to admit. There was white marble and blue water everywhere I looked. Terraces climbed up the side of the mountain, with swimming pools on every level, connected by watersides and waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through. Fountains sprayed water into the air, forming impossible shapes, like flying eagles and galloping horses.

Percy looked behind him hoping to see something and suddenly became disappointed. I understood. It was the kind of place that Tyson would have loved to see. The situations like that made his loss seem keener. Everything that could go wrong seemed to do so in the quest.

"You okay?", Annabeth asked Percy, "You look pale."

"I'm okay.", Percy lied, "Just ... let's keep walking."

When Annabeth peaked at me, I slightly shook my head and mouthed 'Tyson'. She gave me a near-imperceptible nod and kept quiet.

We passed all kinds of tame animals. A sea turtle napped in a stack of beach towels. A leopard stretched out asleep on the diving board. The resort guests-only young women, as far as I could see-lounged in deck chairs, drinking fruit smoothies or reading magazines while herbal gunk dried on their faces and manicurists in white uniforms did their nails.

As we headed up a staircase toward what looked like the main building, I heard a woman singing. Her voice drifted through the air like a lullaby. Her words were in some language other than Ancient Greek, but just as old-Minoan, maybe, or something like that. I could understand what she sang about-moonlight in the olive groves, the colors of the sunrise. And magic. Something about magic. There was something about it that was familiar to me but I could not recall it.

We came into a big room where the whole front wall was windows. The back wall was covered in mirrors, so the room seemed to go on forever. There was a bunch of expensive looking white furniture, and on a table in one corner was a large wire pet cage. The cage seemed oddly out of place in the extravagance that was the room. I put it to the back of my mind when I saw the lady who was singing.

She sat at a loom the size of a big screen TV, her hands weaving colored thread back and forth with amazing skill. The tapestry shimmered like it was three dimensional-a waterfall scene so real I could see the water moving and clouds drifting across a fabric sky.

Annabeth caught her breath. "It's beautiful."

The woman turned. She was quite beautiful. Her long dark hair was braided with threads of gold. She had piercing green eyes and she wore a silky black dress with shapes that seemed to move in the fabric: animal shadows, black upon black, like deer running through a forest at night.

"You appreciate weaving, my dear?", the woman asked.

"Oh, yes, ma'am!", Annabeth said, "My mother is-"

She stopped herself. I frowned. Annabeth was not usually that careless. Percy was usually the motormouth of the group. I guessed he was not speaking because he was too busy salivating over the woman. Percy was a good person but I hated it when he acted exactly like how my mother and the more neutral Hunters told me about the men's typical behaviour. Annabeth had stopped herself in time but anyone who was halfway intelligent could fill in the blanks. I had a feeling that the woman in front of me was not lacking in the intelligence department.

Our hostess just smiled seeming ignoring Annabeth's sudden stop. "You have good taste, my dear. I'm so glad you've come. My name is C.C."

The animals in the corner cage started squealing. They must have been guinea pigs, from the sound of them. We introduced ourselves to C.C. and I was careful to give only my first name.

When she looked at me, I saw surprise and confusion on her face for a moment before it smoothly transitioned back into a smile.

She looked Percy over with a twinge of disapproval, as if he had failed some kind of test. He, on the other hand, looked like some kicked puppy eager to do anything to get its master's approval. Perhaps, that was what people called lovesick puppy. I had never seen him act like that before. Then again how would I know what went on inside a boy's mind. From what I heard, they were supposed to act stupid in front of good looking females.

"Oh, dear," she sighed, "You do need my help."

"Ma'am?", Percy asked.

C.C. called to the lady in the business suit. "Hylla, take Annabeth and Iris on a tour, will you? Show them what we have available. The clothing will need to change. And the hair, my goodness. We will do a full image consultation after I've spoken with this young gentleman."

I gritted my teeth to keep from making a noise when a sudden pain flared in my forehead. I did not know why but for some reason I felt it was important.

"But ...", Annabeth's voice sounded hurt, "What's wrong with my hair?"

It seemed even Annabeth was infected by the Aphrodite bug the woman was spreading. Now that I was thinking about it, why the hell did I come here if I knew it was Aphrodite's domain rather than get as far away as possible? There was something I was missing, something so obvious that I should have already realised it. If the way Annabeth was behaving was any indication, I might have to get to the bottom of the mess on my own.

C.C. smiled benevolently. "My dear, you are lovely. Really! But you're not showing off yourself or your talents at all. So much wasted potential!"

"Wasted?"

"Well, surely you're not happy the way you are! My goodness, there's not a single person who is. But don't worry. We can improve anyone here at the spa. Hylla will show you what I mean. You, my dear, need to unlock your true self!"

Annabeth's eyes glowed with longing. I had never seen her so much at a loss for words.

"Ma'am, do I really have to change my clothes? Mama bought it for me and it's the only thing I have left of her.", I asked playing up the poor orphan card.

"Oh poor dear! If you want, you could keep it as a souvenir. Surely, you could wear better clothes. After all, wouldn't your mama want you to be more beautiful and confident?", she said sympathetically, "As part of your treatment involves our special growth potion to bring you up to the appropriate height, you would need new clothes that fit anyway."

I resisted the urge to throttle her neck. Why did everyone make a fuss about my height, well, the lack of it? Surely, there was nothing wrong in being slightly shorter. If I had not been so indignant about the dig, I would have noticed that she did not refer to my mother in the past tense despite me implying that she was dead.

"But ... what about Percy?", Annabeth asked.

"Oh, definitely," C.C. said, giving him a sad look, "Percy requires my personal attention. He needs much more work than you."

"Well ...", Annabeth said, "I suppose ..."

"Right this way, please.", Hylla said and we allowed ourselves to be led away into the waterfall-laced gardens of the spa.

X-X-X-X-X

I hummed the song the lady was singing while the girl showed us around. Suddenly, I understood what I was missing. The song was an old prayer of sorcerers which was basically thanking the gods for their powers. It was sung before Helios faded and Apollo became the Sun god, when the magic was limited to the Divine and those part of the Cult specifically blessed by the god in question. Even if the song praised all major gods of the time, there were variations where one or two gods was given more prominence. The song the lady sung was mainly prayer to Helios to be sung facing the Sun during the sun rise but was modified to also give Hecate slightly more prominence, the part about conquering the boundaries of magic. Ironically, the weird feeling was me feeling the effect of her praising Selene.

With all that hints, it was obvious that C.C. was Circe, daughter of Helios and Hecate. Now that I thought about it, she even resembled Hecate in appearance. I was not happy about having left Percy alone with her but there was no point in rushing back there. She was not going to kill him. Extreme caution was necessary as she had shown herself to be quite crafty.

In fact, I would say that Circe was the Greek version of Scathach. Both of them were immortal sorceresses who was not officially considered goddesses by the respective ruling bodies but were powerful and dangerous enough that many called them that.

There was another problem at the moment that was giving me a metaphorical head ache. The Mist seemed to indicate that the girl Hylla was a Roman demigod. As if the situation was not bad enough. A Roman demigod and a child of Athena had to end up in the same room, quite a volatile situation. I sighed. As someone in the know, it was now my responsibility to ensure neither spills the beans to the other. Great.

She showed us the quarters we would be expected to stay in and soon we got to the library. I did not get why the sorceress needed such a vast library but it kept Annabeth distracted and that was good enough. I gave a bunch of recruitment pamphlets to the girl surprising her.

After reading it, she said, "Did you really believe I would abandon my mistress just because you gave me some pamphlets?"

"Yes, and you would distribute it to everyone not completely loyal to her and take those interested with you.", I replied.

"And what makes you think I would not show Miss C.C. these and inform her you tried to get me to defect?"

"You would not have read it completely if you were not interested, daughter of War goddess. You would have thrown it away or at my face the moment you realised what it was."

She stared at me surprised. It was big enough for her to act like an actual person for a moment.

"Do you know my mother?", she asked me, a little suspicion colouring her tone.

"No. I just know that you don't like being here reduced to a glorified doll to be shown off. I can feel your restlessness. I don't really care what you do, to be honest. I can tell you that there will be a disturbance soon and your mistress will be distracted. It's upto you whether you want to take advantage of it or not."

By now, she had already discarded her doll mode and was staring at me intensely as if she could see through me if she stared hard enough. I did not know whether she was going to say anything as Annabeth came back babbling about something and Hylla quickly hid the brochures in her suit..

"My dear, I am sure Miss C.C. will give you permission to check out the library as much as you want. Come this way, please.", the lady said.

Hylla and I acted as before but I noticed Annabeth looking between the two of us a few times as if she could sense some tension, some indication that things had changed between us.

She took us to one of the specialists in white uniforms and told her to give us the trial package and left. It was nice to be pampered for once, I admitted as the new girl worked on our hair. I could see the lure of staying there forever.

"Don't you think what is happening to us is weird?", Annabeth asked.

"Weird? I guess finding a nice lady living in the middle of a monster infested sea willing to take us in and care for us can be considered suspicious. But, Annie, there are times when you should know to not look a gift horse in the mouth.", I replied.

Despite the casual and carefree way in which I said it, I noticed Annabeth stiffen slightly. It seemed she was not as lost as I had believed. Perhaps, Circe lost her hold over her after she left her proximity.

It was one of the many codes we came up with on a whim. While the modern meaning of the saying was to not question things too much, old Roman version equated the term 'gift horse' with deception and trickery, something that looked good on surface but had deadly traps hidden within. I had also put a slight emphasis on the word 'horse' which meant Percy fell for the trap and was in need of a rescue. If the emphasis was on the word 'gift', it would have been Percy or I informing the other that Annabeth fell for the trap and was in need of rescue. I did not know what those two cooked up if I was the one in need of rescue. I had decided it was better I not know.

"I guess you are right.", she said.

X-X-X-X-X

Annabeth's voice called: "Miss C.C.?"

She looked around the room and frowned. "Where's Percy?"

I quietly followed her in, invisible.

C.C. smiled. "He's having one of our treatments, my dear, in the men's side. Not to worry. You look wonderful! Where is your friend?"

"Iris is chatting with the girl in charge of the gardens. She is quite fascinated with them."

"I am not surprised. Places like this have become quite rare these days. Sadly, nature has paid the price for the greed of men.", C.C. said a sad smile grazing her face, "What did you think of your tour, my dear?"

Annabeth's eyes brightened. "Your library is amazing!"

"Yes, indeed.", C.C. said, "The best knowledge of the past three millennia. Anything you want to study, anything you want to be, my dear."

"An architect?"

"Pah!", C.C. said, "You, my dear, have the makings of a sorceress. Like me."

Annabeth took a step back on seeing the glint in her eyes. "A sorceress?"

"Yes, my dear."

C.C. held up her hand. A flame appeared in her palm and danced across her fingertips. "My mother is Hecate, the goddess of magic. I know a daughter of Athena when I see one. We are not so different, you and I. We both seek knowledge. We both admire greatness. Neither of us needs to stand in the shadow of men."

"I-I don't understand."

"Stay with me.", C.C. told Annabeth, "Study with me. You can join our staff, become a sorceress, learn to bend others to your will. You will become immortal!"

"But—"

"You are too intelligent, my dear.", C.C. said, "You know better than to trust that silly camp for heroes. How many great female half-blood heroes can you name?"

"Um, Atalanta, Amelia Earhart-"

"Bah! Men get all the glory."

C.C. closed her fist and extinguished the magic flame. "The only way to power for women is sorcery. Medea, Calypso, now there were powerful women! And me, of course. The greatest of all."

"You ... C.C. ... Circe!"

"Yes, my dear.", Annabeth backed up, and Circe laughed, "You need not worry. I mean you no harm."

"What have you done to Percy?"

"Only helped him realize his true form."

Annabeth scanned the room. Finally she saw the cage with the guinea pigs. Her eyes went wide.

"Forget him.", Circe said, "Join me and learn the ways of sorcery."

"But—"

"Your friend will be well cared for. He'll be shipped to a wonderful new home on the mainland. The kindergartners will adore him. Meanwhile, you will be wise and powerful. You will have all you ever wanted."

Annabeth was still staring at the cage but she had a dreamy look on her face. I wondered whether I should intervene and do some damage control. For her plan, it was necessary for her to retain all her mental faculties. I decided to wait until she did something obvious. After all the talk of trusting Clarisse, it would be hypocritical of me to not put faith in her.

Let me think about it.", Annabeth murmured, "Just... give me a minute alone. To say goodbye."

"Of course, my dear.", Circe cooed, "One minute. Oh ... and so you have absolute privacy ..."

She waved her hand and iron bars slammed down over the windows. She swept out of the room and I heard the locks on the door click shut behind her.

The dreamy look melted off Annabeth's face. She rushed over to the cage and I followed her.

"All right, which one is you?"

All the guinea pigs squealed and we could only assume one of them was Percy. We were desperate. Annabeth scanned the room and spotted the cuff of his jeans sticking out from under the loom. She rushed over and rummaged through his pockets. She found the bottle of Hermes multivitamins and started struggling with the cap. I discretely cast a spell to loosen it.

She popped a lemon chewable in her mouth just as the door flew open and Circe came back in, flanked by two of her business-suited attendants. Great. Plan A failed because Circe had very good time keeping skills. I hoped Circe was not suspicious but, well, bringing two minions was not ominous at all. Now, onto Plan B.

"Well," Circe sighed, "how fast a minute passes. What is your answer, my dear?" "This," Annabeth said, and she drew her bronze knife.

The sorceress stepped back, but her surprise quickly passed.

She sneered. "Really, little girl, a knife against my magic? Is that wise?"

Circe looked back at her attendants, who smiled. They raised their hands as if preparing to cast a spell.

"What will Annabeth's makeover be?", Circe mused, "Something small and ill-tempered. I know ... a shrew!"

Blue fire coiled from her fingers curling like serpents around Annabeth but nothing happened. Annabeth was still Annabeth, only angrier. She leaped forward and stuck the point of her knife against Circe's neck.

"How about turning me into a panther instead? One that has her claws at your throat!" "How!", Circe yelped.

Annabeth held up the bottle of vitamins for the sorceress to see. I mentally facepalmed. What was she doing? It was a bad idea to reveal your secrets to the enemy.

Circe howled in frustration. "Curse Hermes and his multivitamins! Those are such a fad! They do nothing for you."

"Turn Percy back to a human or else!", Annabeth said.

"I can't!"

"Then you asked for it."

Circe's attendants stepped forward, but their mistress said, "Get back! She's immune to magic until that cursed vitamin wears off."

Circe suddenly teleported away and reappeared a little far away in the back. She gave Annabeth a really cold look that for some reason filled me with dread and said, "So, I'll just kill her myself."

I noticed that her words surprised not just us but also her attendants. I had a feeling she had just stopped playing around.

She summoned an incredible amount of magic in her hand, compressed it into a small sphere and launched it at Annabeth. She was too shocked at Circe's sudden change in demeanour to remember to dodge. I quickly decided that it was time for me to intervene and summoned the strongest shield that I could manage in the limited time in front of her. The attack tore through the shield and struck her sending her flying across the room. For a moment, I feared she had died. Then I saw her struggling to get up with heaving breaths and a pained expression on her face and let out a breath I did not know I was holding. The shield had managed to take away the worst. I then knew that she had atleast broken a rib and was in no condition to fight.

"You're still alive.", C.C. said slightly surprised, "It seems I didn't give the old scoundrel enough credit."

Seeing Annabeth's expression, she gave her a sharp smile, "Don't act so surprised, daughter of Athena. I have been expecting a trick like that and I simply decided to let things play out. I am not some run of the mill monster who continues to be fooled by the same trick for three thousand years. Your brother Odysseus gave me a wake up call and I learned from it. You saw, for yourself, the fruit of my efforts, the library that you were gushing about. Unfortunately, for you, there will be no wake up call, only death."

She again summoned a large amount of magic but let it go in surprise when she saw her attendants fall down dead with a dagger each stuck on their forehead. I took off my Invisibility Cloak as there was no point in continuing to wear it.

"Plan C, Annabeth. You rescue Percy while I keep her busy.", I said.

She nodded shakily and was eager to follow. I sighed. It seemed my killing them had made her uncomfortable. She would have to get used to it and would even have to kill some herself if what she and Percy told me about Luke having sympathizers in the Camp were true. That was a problem for another time.

"Iris, I had assumed you had escaped when I couldn't find you anywhere. All the time, you have been using a Cloak to hide from me, one powerful enough to hide you from my magical senses unlike your friend's little cap.", Circe said, "Is it my mother's gift...no, not her style. Ah! It's the famous Peverell Cloak."

"Does everyone know about it?", I asked a little irritated.

"No, only those who bother to do proper research. I would have asked you to join me but you made your answer pretty clear. Tell me, why do you oppose me for a boy when your mother does the same thing that I do?"

"My mother punishes the men who mistreats women. You do it because the only way you can be happy is to see someone else more miserable than you are. After all, no one is happy the way they are.", I replied mimicking her voice at the end.

She launched an attack at me, similar to previous one, but weaker and faster and I simply dodged. I sent a flock of birds at her with a flick of my wand that she vanished with a negligent wave of her hand.

"If you are happy living a lie, girl, I will be quite happy to put you out of misery.", she said back.

She sent a few dogs at me while I sent an equal amount of wolves back. We traded attacks changing between transfigurations and pure magical force attacks at whim. I had heard that Transfiguration masters were never out of tricks. While I was far from that distinction, considering how our battle was going, I could understand how that saying came about. I idly wondered, when Professor McGonnagal had taught us to change a matchstick to a needle in her first class, whether she would have envisioned me using her teachings to change wooden debris into razor sharp steel needles of death.

Neither of us had any Divine Authority and both of us were natural. Both of us had a lot of imagination. Despite the many millenia lead she had over me, she had no one who was close to her skill to practice with. We were on even terms at the moment but I knew it would change soon.

I unleashed a fire ball towards her and used it as a cover to charge towards her. The look of surprise on her face when she vanished the fire was priceless. She then changed tactics herself. She sent a lot of those magic balls at me and I had to use all my acrobatic skill to weave, twist and duck my way out of it.

"Got you.", came a triumphant yell.

I stopped suddenly when I came face to face with a large magical circle consisting of many concentric circles with symbols between them. I looked around and realised that I was boxed in from all sides by similar magical circles. It seemed Circe was preparing it while she used the magic balls as a way to herd me into position.

The circles started spinning and the innermost circle started glowing yellow. From what I understood, it was supposed to shoot out a very intense solar beam each. Considering the power coming from it, even Hercules in his Nemean Lion coating might not be able to tank it. I say, might because, well, it was Hercules we were talking about. He had already achieved the impossible twelve times. What was one more?

I concentrated on the place right in front of Circe and teleported right before the beams were released. The moment I got there, I slashed with both of my daggers. It was an indication of how good a sorceress she was that she managed to teleport away from my attack even when her reactions were dulled as a result of simultaneously maintaining many magic circles but she did not get away unscathed. There was an X mark on her front oozing ichor, the gold coloured blood of immortals.

She snarled at me, her eyes smouldering in fury. It was at that moment that a few girls barged in looking frantic. They stilled, their faces paling in fear, when their mistress' gaze fell on them.

"What do you want?", she snarled, "Why are you not doing your jobs?"

They looked ready to turn back and bolt for a moment. Then a brave one bowed and said, "M-Mistress, Hylla is leaving with many others."

"Why? I don't remember giving her permission to leave."

"I don't know, mistress. I only heard from someone that she was offering to take anyone who followed her to Diana and her Huntresses and came here quickly to inform you."

Circe cursed in Ancient Greek, the expletives were not the kind Hecate would have liked hearing from her daughter's mouth, immortal sorceress or not.

I knew that Hylla herself would not be joining the Hunters. While it would be nice for my mother to have a warrior like her, she was too headstrong and stubborn to stay under Zoe's leadership. I could easily see her carving her way to the top of a Mafia-like organisation one dead body after another. Atleast, many others would join in. The Hunters desperately needed some new blood.

"What else is there to go wrong today?", Circe snarled.

My eyes widened in surprise. She really should not have asked that. Her gaze moved towards the back and her eyes widened in horror.

"No! No! No! You idiotic girl. Do you have any idea what you have done? They are the worst of the worst. Thieves, Murderers, Rapists...and you gave them immunity to magic. "

I looked back and saw that she had somehow freed six extra people.

One of the men stood up-a huge guy with a long tangled pitch-black beard and teeth the same color. He wore mismatched clothes of wool and leather, knee-length boots, and a floppy felt hat. The other men were dressed more simply-in breeches and stained white shirts. All of them were barefoot.

"Argggh!", bellowed the big man, "What's the witch done t'me!"

"No!", Circe moaned in despair and for some reason I felt like doing the same.

Annabeth gasped. "I recognize you! Edward Teach, son of Ares?"

"Aye, lass.", the big man growled, "Though most call me Blackbeard! And there's the sorceress that captured us, lads. Run her through, and then I mean to find me a big bowl of celery! Arggggh!"

The pirates charged them and the girls cowered behind their mistress who was looking shaky and desperate herself. Wait! Why would Circe look desperate? From what I had seen, she could easily crush them. It was then I noticed that she looked green and was breathing heavily. It was as if she had suddenly become ill and the only way that could have happened was through my poisoned daggers. Now that I was looking for it, I could see the greenish tinge in the wound I gave her. It seemed dipping my dagger in residue from Thalia's tree had some consequences.

A flame appeared in her hand and I knew it was not her magic. The flame was reddish yellow in colour, the colour of the Sun. The sacred flame of Helios. She soon started speaking the words of power. With each word, the flames grew larger and pressure in the room increased. The pirates stopped their revenge obsessed charge wary of the ever increasing power. But she continued and soon she was sweating, struggling to contain the flames.

I quickly teleported myself between Percy and Annabeth and held them closely to me. I waited patiently and soon she let out the inferno. The pirates did not even have the time to scream before they were consumed. When the flames came close enough, I did a technique that I had only tried out in much smaller scale before.

When I felt the flames on the outside end, I relaxed hold on the spinning dome of white fire surrounding us and let it take a more natural position ready for another attack but it was not necessary. Circe was on her knees hands on the ground to stop herself from falling face first.

"I can see why my mother is interested in you, Iris.", she mumbled.

I did not know whether to take it as a compliment or delirious rambling. So, I put it to the back of my mind. Two of the girls quickly lifted Circe by her hands and ran back inside while the rest followed. I let the fire dissipate and we made our way out ourselves not wanting to push our luck too much. Annabeth did not seem to be struggling. She might have healed herself using ambrosia. I felt as if my inner and outer skin had ground against each other for some time. Kaiten was a technique I created or recreated from Naruto series. So, using it was like putting a square plug in a round hole of similar size, possible but not easy. I had never realised how much effort it took to maintain the technique against an onslaught like that.

We reached the docks and Percy, for some reason, chose the pirate ship, Queen Anne's Revenge over the cool submarine and what else. He was a son of Poseidon in his territory. So, I decided not to question him too much. The moment we hit the deck, darkness claimed me.

X-X-X-X-X

AN :

As you can see, I changed a few things. Clarisse here is not the stereotype of dumb muscle.

One of many things that disappointed me in the original series was Circe. Rick Riordan went to such effort to draw parallels between Circe and Athena that I expected something more exciting. But, the moment Annabeth ate a magic medicine, suddenly, Circe became a paper tiger for Annabeth to punt around.

Here, Circe shows that she is indeed the daughter of Helios and Hecate, two very powerful gods. She shows skill and ruthlessness well worth her fearsome reputation.


	5. Percy's Blind Brother

**POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS**

Chapter 5 : Percy's Blind Brother

X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

X-X-X-X-X

This chapter will be in Iris' Pov unless stated otherwise.

X-X-X-X-X

I felt weird when I woke up. It did not take me long to realise that my hearing was muffled. It seemed my ears were stuffed with candle wax. As I was not restrained in any other way, I knew that I was not captured. I had a feeling that it was not a prank either.

When I got to the deck, I saw no one there. Where the hell did those two go? I noticed the pilot's wheels turning haphazardly and I realised that it was compensating for the effect of the waves. It seemed Percy had ordered the ship to stay at the exact same place. I briefly wondered why he did not deploy the anchor and then decided it was not important. Perhaps, he was afraid of it hitting a mine or awakening a sleeping legendary monster or, well, you get the idea. I admit, I was sad to miss out on seeing the fabled Atlantean magic used. Well, there would always be a next time, hopefully.

A simple Point Me charm showed me the direction and it did not take me long to notice their movement in water. I looked further in the direction and could see a vague outline of an island. The next moment, they surfaced and the air bubble popped. I quickly put up a Silence bubble around their heads. I did not know exactly what the problem was but I could take a guess. Due to my snake traits, I could feel the vibrations of the enchanted voice on my skin. A rope ladder automatically dropped over the side of the ship and they climbed abroad.

We sailed until the island was completely out of sight. Annabeth sat huddled in a blanket on the forward deck. Finally she looked up, dazed and sad, and mouthed, safe. We took out the earplugs. No singing. The afternoon was quiet except for the sound of the waves against the hull. The fog had burned away to a blue sky, as if the island of the Sirens had never existed.

I gave them a serious look. "Tell me everything."

"Annabeth wanted to listen to the Siren's song. She said anyone who survived it would become wiser.", Percy said.

I nodded in understanding. In my first year at Hogwarts, I had come across a powerful magical artifact called the Mirror of Erised which worked on a similar principle, using your innermost desires to tempt you. Rather than devouring you as soon as you are in the vicinity, it would slowly make you addicted to it such that you would ignore everything else just to waste away your life gazing into it. Let me tell you that the withdrawal symptoms were a bitch. Not one of my proudest moments, I admit. In my defence, I was a lost child then, looking for a purpose and a place to belong. It gave out tantalising hints as a bait to lure me in. One of the good things that came out of the mess was that I could accept my role as the Moon's heir without any doubts hindering me. So, in a sense, I could say I had gotten wiser.

"I assume she asked you to keep her from going to them but she slipped by you.", I stated to which he nodded in embarrassment.

"I tied her up to the foremast just like she asked but I forgot to take away her dagger.", he said.

I sighed. It seemed my guess was right. Percy was the kind of person who tended to miss out the smaller details. But, forgetting to disarm someone while restraining them was amateur mistake. Worse, Annabeth did not remind him, which was weird considering that she was someone who paid attention to the minutest of the details. It seemed their stay at Circe's spa affected them more than I believed.

"Did you learn what you wanted?", I asked her.

"Yes. I confirmed what my fatal flaw is. Hubris.", she replied.

"That brown stuff they spread on veggie sandwiches?"

She rolled her eyes and I smirked. "No, Seaweed Brain. That's hummus. Hubris is worse."

"What could be worse than hummus?"

I snorted. "Hubris means deadly pride, Percy. Thinking no one can do or know things better than you. All gods have it to some extent but Athena and her children are most well known in that regard."

"You really feel that way, Annabeth?", Percy asked.

She looked down. "Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework."

"I'm listening.", he said.

"I mean, the West represents a lot of the best things mankind ever did-that's why the fire is still burning. That's why Olympus is still around. But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: 'If I could tear this all down, I would do it better.' Don't you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?", she said.

"Um ... no. Me running the world would kind of be a nightmare.", he replied.

"Yeah, he will run it to the ground.", I said getting an indignant yell from him, "I like being so powerful that no one dares to mess with me but running the world means taking responsibility. I prefer doing my own thing."

"Then you're both lucky. Hubris isn't your fatal flaw.", she replied.

"What is?", Percy asked.

"I don't know, Percy, but every hero has one. If you don't find it and learn to control it ... well, they don't call it 'fatal' for nothing.", Annabeth answered.

"So was it worth it?", I asked Annabeth, "Do you feel ... wiser?"

She gazed into the distance. "I'm not sure. But we have to save the camp. If we don't stop Luke ..."

I nodded in agreement. She did not need to finish. If Luke's way of thinking could tempt Annabeth, there was no telling how many other half-bloods had already joined him. We all wished to be part of something great, whether we admitted it or not.

"Iris", Annabeth asked hesitantly, "Can you teach me to use magic?"

"I can't. Teaching magic is not my specialty. As a daughter of Athena, you might take naturally to Arithmancy but you will only understand what you are calculating if you have cast magic before. There's a reason the subject is only taught in third year. I suggest asking Lou Ellen later on. If someone as prideful as Circe offered to personally teach you, you must have a lot of potential. It's better to not waste it.", I replied.

She nodded. "I see. I am tired. I will take a little rest."

"Percy, do you know how to sail the ship without your magic spell?", I asked.

He nodded. "I know what to do and I could even teach someone else. The spell was so that I don't have to physically do all the work. I just have to think and the ship will automatically do it."

"Can you let go of the control of the wheels? I want to try sailing the ship.", I said.

"Do you know how to steer the ship?", he asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "How hard can it be? Turn the wheels in one direction and ship turns in that direction, turn the other way and the ship goes the opposite direction."

Percy looked amused. "Come on then. We will make a Captain out of you."

He then released control of the wheels and let me at it. Let's say it was not as easy as I had believed. I was not sure whether it was usual for the old vessels or rust due to age and years of unuse were the cause, it took a lot of strength to turn the wheels. Many times, I either turned too much or too less and he had to help me. I secretly mused that, with him standing right behind me, his hands on mine, face leaning over my shoulder, any stranger who might see us would get the wrong impression.

"Sea, unlike land, is ever moving, ever changing. You should always keep an eye on the effect it has on the ship and make up for it if necessary. Even the dangers at sea are not that obvious. A floating rock could be the tip of an underwater mountain. You have to be careful about the ship hitting the reefs, especially close to land. Obviously, you should lower the sails when the weather is bad. Don't worry. It's like swimming. Once you do it enough times, it becomes instinctual. Something about muscle memory."

"You seem to know a lot about sailing.", I said.

By the way he shifted his feet, I could tell he was uncomfortable. It piqued my interest.

"I had always had an interest in sea and ships and stuff like that. It must be a son of Poseidon thing.", he said.

"Interesting. So, how do you feel now?"

He stiffened. "I feel fine now. Like I am myself."

I nodded. "When I first changed back from snake to human, for some time, I was not comfortable with having weird appendages sticking out of my body."

"Then what happened?"

"Those instincts faded away with time and I decided I liked having hands and legs, thank you very much."

"Oh!"

By the way he talked, I had a feeling that he had only just realised what the 'weird appendages' were. Percy could be slow like that.

"Iris, do you know whether Circe had any grudge against me?", he asked.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of salty air before opening my eyes.

"I believe she hates anything related to the sea. You know the story of Scylla, a beautiful nymph who caught the eye of a minor sea god named Glaucus. He refused to take no for an answer forcing her to flee. He then went to Circe and begged her for a love potion to 'melt her heart' but Circe fell in love with him herself. Despite her many attempts, he refused to stop pursuing her. Driven by anger and jealousy, Circe poisoned the pool which Scylla used to bathe in and we all know what happened after that. To say Poseidon was not happy at what happened to his granddaughter would be an understatement. He put her in house arrest here in Sea of Monsters, a not-so-subtle message to her. In the end, she didn't get the guy either as he cut off all ties with her in disgust."

"I thought Scylla was the daughter of Phorcys.", he said/asked.

"That's something mortals got wrong. Her mother was the daughter of Phorcys. Anyway, there are many other stories like the one where Circe turned a man into a woodpecker for refusing to cheat on his wife. Then again, she allowed Odysseus to return to his wife after spending a few nights with her, no hard feelings. Perhaps, she was sympathetic to someone who was also punished by Poseidon.", I replied shrugging my shoulders.

"I am sure she was.", Percy muttered in a sarcastic tone.

I guessed it must be difficult for him to even consider Circe being capable of sympathy after his harrowing experience.

"Oh Man! Does every enemy we face have to be related to Poseidon in some way?", he whined.

I snorted in amusement. And then thought about it. And realised that he was not completely wrong, atleast if only monsters were considered. Ignoring the Furies, there was Medusa (I liked the super hot babe in Fate Stay/Night rather than the chicken legged monstrosity we ended up with), who was Poseidon's former lover, then there was Chimera, who was killed by a son of Poseidon, Procrustes, who was a son of Poseidon killed by another son of Poseidon, Scylla and Charybdis and at last Circe. Atleast we did not have to face Kraken...yet.

Just as the thought came to my mind, the ship suddenly shook and we fell down, well, he fell on his back and I fell on him but miniscule details like that were not important. I quickly got up and helped him up.

"What the hell is that? I didn't know it was possible for ships to have earthquakes.", I spoke.

Percy closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating. Perhaps, he was checking on the ship.

"Something hit the bottom of the ship and put a hole in it.", he replied.

"You can keep the water out, can't you? At least until we get it to the shore."

"I am doing just that.", Percy said looking puzzled, "But something has entered our ship. Well, several somethings. And they are..."

"Percy! Iris!"

We looked towards the source of the sound and saw Annabeth standing on the side of the ship.

"Guys! We have a problem.", she said pointing to something outside.

We went over there and looked towards where she was pointing. For a moment, we stared in shock at the bizzare sight. There were many creatures of various sizes crawling up the ship walls while gnawing at it as if they were eating the ship. The closest similarity they had was to centipedes from what we could see. But, I was quite sure that centipedes did not have slimy skin like that of frogs.

"Do you know what they are, Annie?", I asked her ready to bring out my bow and arrow.

Annabeth frowned. "They were not spoken off in Homer. In fact, their existence was only discovered later by a son of Poseidon in 1357 on a quest. He called it Venician Centipede in his report, perhaps because of its aquatic nature, and we still use that name. Despite being technically monsters, they usually ignore demigods unless attacked. They consume wood for sustenance like termites though it is possible that it's not their only food."

"So, in the words of ordinary people, the ship is a goner and we have to swim the rest of the way.", Percy said to which she nodded.

"The report never mentioned anything about there being so many of them though.", Annabeth muttered.

I thought about the options and was not happy with my conclusions. There were many of them I could see and, if Percy was right, many more eating through the ship from within. Even if we managed to kill all of them, it would not matter. The ship was already lost. Also, attempting to kill them was a waste of precious time and effort, an unjustifiable waste considering that there was no threat to our life and they were only feasting on what we were planning on disposing anyway. It would be like attacking a stray dog for eating from the dumpster the rotten food we had thrown away.

The ship suddenly lurched forward and we fell on our backs. Percy did not need to speak for us to know that he lost his focus and the sea water was rushing into the ship. Queen Anne's Revenge was sinking.

At the front of the ship, there was a giant version of the critters which had just bitten off a huge chunk from the front. The monster had dark brown hide and yellow legs, atleast the ones we could see. While its mouth was not large enough to swallow the ship whole, the size was not far off the mark. I could see rows of long razor sharp teeth, that centipedes were not supposed to have, with saliva dripping from them on to the ship. The smell coming from it made me scrunch my nose in disgust. It seemed that the one thing common among all monsters was their lack of interest in dental hygiene. Wherever saliva had landed, it dissolved the wood there. Now that I could observe closely, I noticed that the legs were more like flippers in shape and texture with edges sharp enough to cling to any surface.

"Percy, how close are we to the destination?", Annabeth asked.

"Very close.", he replied.

One moment we were looking at each other, the next moment we were jumping over the edge into the sea. It was good to know we still had the team spirit. The last thing we saw of the pirate ship was it sinking in a parody of Titanic.

X-X-X-X-X

Up ahead was a blotch of land, a saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows. Even without Percy saying anything, I knew that we had reached our destination. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north; 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. We had reached the home of the Cyclops.

When you think "monster island," you get the image of craggy rocks and bones scattered on the beach, the stench of death and the feeling of doom. The Cyclops' island was nothing like that. I mean, sure, it had a rope bridge across a chasm, which was not a good sign. You might as well put up a billboard that said, SOMETHING EVIL LIVES HERE. But except for that, the place looked like a Caribbean postcard. It had green fields and tropical fruit trees and white beaches. As we swam toward the shore, Annabeth breathed in the sweet air.

"The Fleece," she said.

I nodded. I couldn't see the Fleece yet, but I could feel its power. It was powerful enough that even those not attuned to nature like Annabeth could feel it. The nearer I got, stronger I felt. The burn in my muscles faded away and I felt fresh. I could believe it would heal anything, even Thalia's poisoned tree.

"If we take it away, will the island die?", Percy asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "It'll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever that is."

In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge-the size of hippos. Just past them was a path that led up into the hills. At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was the massive oak tree. Something gold glittered in its branches.

"This is too easy.", Percy said, "We could just hike up there and take it?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Percy, surely you don't think the centipede attack so close to the island was a coincidence, do you? They were first line of attack/defense, bred to consume our boats and ships so we have no means of escape. Considering that it is usually the satyrs who come here, the use of Venecian Centipedes ensures that the Cyclops doesn't lose his meal. I wonder what other protections are there."

That's when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once and rushed the animal. It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves. Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air. A second later all the sheep moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones. We exchanged looks.

"They're like piranhas.", Annabeth said, "Piranhas with wool. How will we-"

I did not hear the rest as I was going after something I saw in the distance. The moment I held it in my hands, I was sure it was what I thought it was. It was the bracelet Clarisse carried around during special occasions like a lucky charm. She did not like anyone knowing about it as it was not conductive to her tough image and I did not ask about it as I felt it was none of my business. It must have been a childhood gift. The bracelet was so small that Clarisse must have outgrown it long ago. The presence of it here meant Clarisse had not only survived but beat us here, perhaps by a few hours. It made me wonder who else survived. Perhaps Tyson.

"Hey Iris, you left us and went off alone for ... a bracelet?", Annabeth asked confused.

"Well, she is getting it for free. She could sell to her classmates and get a few penny or whatever currency magic people use.", Percy said.

"You would do that, Percy. She is not you. If she went for a bracelet in the middle of a quest, she must have an important reason, right?"

I turned around and saw Percy and Annabeth right behind me. They looked intrigued. I shrugged my shoulders and pocketed it.

I spoke, "It doesn't matter. Let's circle around the island and check for less defended spots. We will get Grover first and then go after the Fleece. As he is the 'bride', Polyphemus must have shown off the place to impress him. We could use that knowledge."

"If you say so, leader, we shall follow you.", she replied.

I resisted the urge to sigh. It's her way of saying that if something went wrong, it was on my head. Then again with the absence of Clarisse, I was the leader by default.

Our little trip round the Island was not quite easy. We had to weave through a collection of floating metal balls on chains that I recognized as mines, scurry away from poison injecting carnivorous plants that were too good at looking like a rock for my comfort, or avoid getting tangled in the nets of barbed wire strung just below the surface.

We soon ended up on the back side of the island where the cliffs rose straight up a good two hundred feet. The cliffs looked climbable, about as difficult as the lava wall back at camp. It meant I could climb easily while Annabeth and Percy would have some difficulty. I went first naturally because I was the best climber followed by Annabeth and then Percy. We finally made it to the top though there were many close calls for either of them, more so for Percy. The moment they hauled themselves over the top of the cliff, they collapsed breathing heavily. I blinked my eyes in surprise. While I was tired too, I could still go on. Perhaps, they had slacked off more than I thought.

"Ugh!", Percy said.

"Ouch!", moaned Annabeth.

"Garrr!", bellowed another voice.

Percy nearly jumped up in surprise. He whirled around searching for the person making the noise but he could not find anyone. Annabeth quickly clamped her hand over his mouth. She placed her finger against her lips in a universal sign for silence. She then pointed it out for him. The ledge we were sitting on was narrower than it seemed initially. It dropped off on the opposite side, and that's where the voice was coming from-right below us.

"You're a feisty one!", the deep voice bellowed.

"Challenge me!", Clarisse's voice, no doubt about it. "Untie me and give me back my sword and I'll fight you!"

The monster roared with laughter.

Annabeth, Percy and I crept to the edge. We were right above the entrance of the Cyclops' cave. Below us stood Polyphemus and Clarisse in a wedding dress. Grover was tied up, hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water.

Wait, what? I rubbed my eyes to remove the dust and looked again. It's the same thing. I shook my head a few times and looked again. It's again the same thing.

"I think I am hallucinating. I just saw Clarisse in a wedding dress.", I said bewildered.

"I am seeing the same thing. So, it's real.", Annabeth replied equally bewildered, "If we had inhaled any hallucinogens, we would be seeing different things. Also, I don't think Polyphemus is capable of Mist based illusions. After all, he was part of the era when everyone was aware of the existence of the supernatural."

"Yeah, they are a match made in heaven...or Tartarus.", Percy quipped.

"Don't be mean, Percy. She is my friend and is in danger."

He held his hands in surrender pose. "Hey! Just trying to lighten the mood."

He then muttered something about girls I did not hear properly. Never mind. It might not have been that important anyway.

I looked around the place. I was half hoping to see Tyson down there, too. Even if he had been in danger, at least I would have known he was alive. But there was no sign of him.

The Cyclops looked at Clarisse. "Have to graze sheep now. Wedding happens tonight. Then we'll eat satyr for the main course!"

Grover whimpered pitifully.

"Hey, you overgrown pile of dung, I am the daughter of Ares. You can't marry me without defeating me in proper armed combat.", Clarisse shouted.

Polyphemus patted her head-well atleast that was what I think he tried to do, what happened was that his sheer strength forced her to the ground falling face first knocking her out. It was like watching anime. It would have been funny had we not been the ones that had to defeat him and take the prize. He looked at his 'bride' for a moment in confusion and then nodded his head as if he had some deep relevation.

"The bride wants to rest before the wedding. Take your time! I come back at sundown for big event!"

Then the Cyclops whistled, and a mixed flock of goats and sheep-smaller than the man eaters-flooded out of the cave and past their master. As they went to pasture, Polyphemus patted some on the back and called them by name-Beltbuster, Tammany, Lockhart, etc. When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled a boulder in front of the doorway as easily as I would close a refrigerator door, shutting off the sound of Clarisse and Grover screaming inside.

"Mangos", Polyphemus grumbled to himself, "Where would I get mangos?"

He strolled off down the mountain in his baby-blue groom's outfit, leaving us alone with a pot of boiling water and a six-ton boulder.

We tried for what seemed like hours, but it was no good. The boulder wouldn't move, with and without magic. Many centuries of absorbing the natural energy had given it an impressive magical resistance. The difficulty of Vanishing charm depended on the size of the object, the period of its existence, its rarity and its magical resistance however it was gained. Considering that the charm was equivalent to erasing Gaia's memory of the object's existence, it was understandable. Moving the rock was much easier. A simple charm to smoothen the ground and make it frictionless and a Locomotor charm. While the weight would have made it difficult, it would still have worked. But due to how saturated the ground and the rock was with nature energy, my magic simply could not stick let alone make the necessary changes. It was like trying to climb a well oiled pole with just your bare hands. It was so frustrating.

We yelled into the cracks, tapped on the rock, did everything we could think of to get a signal to Grover, but if he heard us, we couldn't tell.

Even if by some miracle we managed to kill Polyphemus, it wouldn't do us any good. Grover and Clarisse would die inside that sealed cave. The only way to move the rock was to have the Cyclops do it.

In total frustration, Percy stabbed Riptide against the boulder. Sparks flew, but nothing else happened. A large rock is not the kind of enemy you can fight with a magic sword.

Annabeth, Percy and I sat on the ridge in despair and watched the distant baby-blue shape of the Cyclops as he moved among his flocks. He had wisely divided his regular animals from his man-eating sheep, putting each group on either side of the huge crevice that divided the island. The only way across was the rope bridge, and the planks were much too far apart for sheep hooves.

We watched as Polyphemus visited his carnivorous flock on the far side. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, they did not eat him. That would make things too easy or difficult. In fact, they did not seem to bother him at all. He fed them chunks of mystery meat from a great wicker basket.

"Trickery," Annabeth decided. "We can't beat him by force, so we'll have to use trickery."

"Okay," Percy said. "What trick?'

"I haven't figured that part out yet."

"Great."

"Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside.", I said.

"At sunset," Percy said. "Which is when he'll marry Clarisse and have Grover for dinner. I'm not sure which is grosser."

"We could get inside.", she said, "invisibly."

"What about me?"

"The sheep," Annabeth mused. She gave him one of those sly looks that suddenly made me glad I had a fancy Invisibility Cloak. I felt as if I had just dodged a bullet. "How much do you like sheep?"

Long story short. Annabeth's idea was for Percy to cling to the underside of a sheep like the action heroes do in Hollywood movies except there would be no bomb to diffuse. We would be walking on our own nearby invisible. The sheeps, from what I could see, were big enough to hide him and strong enough to carry him.

"Just don't let go!" Annabeth said, ever the mother hen, standing invisibly off to my right.

"Ehh! Why am I the only one without an Invisibility thing?", Percy whined.

"It's because you are the only boy in our group. It's expected of you to do the hard work.", I replied.

I smirked on seeing Annabeth place a hand over her mouth as if trying to restrain a giggle. I could not see him but I could feel his glare at the back of my head.

The moment he was in position, the Cyclops roared, "Oy! Goaties! Sheepies!"

The flock dutifully began trudging back up the slopes toward the cave.

"This is it!", Annabeth whispered, "I'll be close by. Don't worry."

Hasenpfeffer!", the Cyclops said, patting one of the sheep in front of Percy. "Einstein! Widget—eh there, Widget!"

Polyphemus patted his sheep and nearly knocked him to the ground. "Putting on some extra mutton there?"

For a moment, I feared Percy had gotten caught. But Polyphemus just laughed and swatted the sheep's rear end, propelling them forward.

"Go on, fatty! Soon Polyphemus will eat you for breakfast!"

And just like that, we were in the cave. I could see the last of the sheep coming inside.

If Annabeth didn't pull off her distraction soon ...

The Cyclops was about to roll the stone back into place, when from somewhere outside Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly!"

Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?"

"Nobody!", Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage.

"Nobody!", Polyphemus yelled back, "I remember you!"

"You're too stupid to remember anybody.", Annabeth taunted, "Much less Nobody."

I hoped to the gods she was already moving when she said that, because Polyphemus bellowed furiously, grabbed the nearest boulder (which happened to be his front door) and threw it toward the sound of Annabeth's voice. I heard the rock smash into a thousand fragments. For a terrible moment, there was silence.

Then Annabeth shouted, "You haven't learned to throw any better, either!"

Polyphemus howled. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!"

"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," she taunted. "Come find me!"

Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice.

Now, the "Nobody" thing wouldn't have made sense to anybody, but Annabeth had explained that it was the name Odysseus had used to trick Polyphemus centuries ago, right before he poked the Cyclops's eye out with a large hot stick. Annabeth had figured Polyphemus would still have a grudge about that name, and she was right. In his frenzy to find his old enemy, he forgot about resealing the cave entrance. Apparently, he didn't even stop to consider that Annabeth's voice was female, whereas the first Nobody had been male. On the other hand, he'd wanted to marry Grover, so he could not have been all that bright about the gender differences.

I just hoped Annabeth could stay alive and keep distracting him long enough for us to free Grover and Clarisse and return to back her up.

Percy dropped off his ride, patted it on the head, and apologized. We searched the main room, but there was no sign of Grover or Clarisse. We pushed through the crowd of sheep and goats toward the back of the cave. I let Percy take the lead as he was the one who dreamt about the place. Despite the advantage, we had a hard time finding our way through the maze. We ran down corridors littered with bones, past rooms full of sheepskin rugs and life-size cement sheep that I recognized as the work of Medusa. There were collections of sheep Tshirts; large tubs of lanolin cream; and wooly coats, socks, and hats with ram's horns. Finally, we found the room, where Grover was hanging upside down, water spilled on the floor and an overturned pot in the corner. It seemed Clarisse had kicked it away in rage going by the dent in the side. The daughter of Ares was holding her bound hand over the still burning fire and wiggling them. Somehow, she managed to free her arms from it and tossed the rope into the fire.

"Damn! It's harder than I expected." Clarisse said rubbing her bruised wrists, "The rope was like iron!"

And then they saw us.

"Percy?", Clarisse said blinking her eyes in surprise, "You're supposed to be blown up!"

"Good to see you, too, Clarisse.", he replied and then proceeded to free Grover.

I threw her bracelet at her and she grunted in return, a thankful grunt. Well, Clarisse was never a touchy feely person, outside combat anyway.

"Irrrrris! Perrrrrcy!", Grover bleated and grabbed us in a group hug. "You heard me! You came!"

"Yeah, buddy." Percy said, "Of course I came."

"We could not really stay there after we heard of our favourite goat boy getting into trouble, could we?", I said.

"Where's Annabeth?"

"Outside keeping him busy." Percy said, "But there's no time for talking. She needs help."

"Which way did you two enter the island?", she asked.

"Backdoor entrance.", I replied, "We climbed the cliff."

"Then you were lucky. The front entrance has a curse which makes you see things that aren't there and not see things that are there.", Grover said.

"You will walk right into a deadly trap you should have seen or you will ignore the right path in front of you and go roaming around like a bufoon.", Clarisse added.

The goat boy huffed. "Or you could give away your allies to your enemies."

"Hey! Don't blame me. I was not in the right mind, remember. Blame the curse or the witch who put it there. Some coward hiding behind magic, no doubt."

Atleast, that explained how Grover got caught. It was possible that he was immune due to some satyr physiology and did not realise the extent of the curse until it was too late.

"Enough. Both of you are important. I get it. No need to be so dramatic. If Annabeth was not wary of there being magical protections here, I would have been backing her up. She can only hold on for so long.", I replied.

An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that told me we might be too late. It was Annabeth crying out in fear.

"I got Nobody!", Polyphemus gloated.

We crept to the cave entrance and saw the Cyclops grinning wickedly holding up empty air. The monster shook his fist, and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground. There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.

"Hah!", the Cyclops said, "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!"

Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Her eyes were glassy.

I'll rush him.", Percy whispered to Clarisse, "You, Iris and Grover—"

"No way." we said at the same time.

Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible rams-horn spear from the Cyclops's cave. Grover had found a sheep's thigh bone, which he didn't look too happy about, but he was gripping it like a club, ready to attack.

"We'll take him together," Clarisse growled.

"Yeah," Grover said.

Then he blinked, like he couldn't believe he'd just agreed with Clarisse about something. "All right.", Percy said, "Attack plan Macedonia."

We nodded. We had all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood. We knew what he was talking about. Percy would keep his attention in the front, Clarisse and Grover would sneak around either side and attack the Cyclops from the flanks while I, as the archer, would find holes in the enemy's defence and attack with precision while at the same time, watch their back. I absently noted that for someone so averse to taking on leadership, he could be a good leader if he chose to be.

Percy hefted his sword and shouted, "Hey, Ugly!"

The giant whirled toward him. "Another one? Who are you?"

"Put down my friend. I'm the one who insulted you."

"You are Nobody?"

"That's right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!"

Not the kind of words I would use, but, if it works, it works. As any typical wizard would tell you, "If it ain't broke, why fix it?"

"I'm Nobody and I'm proud of it! Now, put her down and get over here. I want to stab your eye out again."

"RAAAR!", he bellowed.

The good news: he dropped Annabeth.

The bad news: he dropped her headfirst onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll.

The other bad news: The Cyclops barrelled towards him with a ferocity not even an enraged Minotaur could hope to match while he only had a comparatively tiny sword.

"For Pan!", Grover rushed in from the right.

He threw his sheep bone, which bounced harmlessly off the monster's forehead. Clarisse ran in from the left and set her spear against the ground just in time for the Cyclops to step on it. He wailed in pain, and Clarisse dove out of the way to avoid getting trampled. But the Cyclops just plucked out the shaft like a large splinter and kept advancing on me. I moved in with Riptide. The monster made a grab for him. He rolled aside and stabbed him in the thigh. I was hoping to see him disintegrate, but it seemed this monster was much too big and powerful. Still, I learned what I needed to. Not only did his other senses become more powerful to compensate for his blindness, he got a similar Precognition ability as me. It only triggered on direct attack on his person as Clarisse had demonstrated, something I would have to be careful about in the future.

"Get Annabeth!", I yelled at Grover as he was somewhat useless in the fight. She was too vulnerable there for my liking.

He rushed over, grabbed her invisibility cap, and picked her up while Clarisse and Percy tried to keep Polyphemus distracted.

Clarisse was brave. She charged the Cyclops again and again. He pounded the ground, stomped at her, grabbed at her, but she was too quick. And as soon as she made an attack, Percy followed up by stabbing the monster in the toe or the ankle or the hand. Every time the monster came close to getting its hands on either of them, I would shoot at it forcing its reflexes to move them despite my arrows being nothing more than a prick of a needle to it. I made sure to move around so it could not locate me.

But we couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually we would tire or the monster would get in a lucky shot. It would only take one hit to kill us.

The Cyclops suddenly spoke something in Ancient Greek which I translated as "Guard dogs, activate"

We were surprised to hear it speaking but we were rendered speechless by what happened next. Many dog-shaped automatons came out of the ground like zombies in horror films. It seemed Polyphemus did not just sit around all these centuries and had indulged in his hobbies. They looked exactly like hellhounds and were even of similar size. We did not have the numerical advantage anymore.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grover carrying Annabeth across the rope bridge. It wouldn't have been my first choice, given the man-eating sheep on the other side, but at the moment that looked better than this side of the chasm, and it gave me an idea.

"Fall back!", I shouted.

She rolled away as the Cyclops's fist smashed the olive tree beside her. We ran for the bridge, Polyphemus and his mechanical hellhounds right behind us. He was cut up and hobbling from so many wounds, but all we had done was slow him down and make him mad.

Fun fact : the automatons were capable of breathing fire.

Clarisse had to carry me with me facing back shooting arrows at them. An arrow through either eye or through open mouth was enough to kill them, or shut them down.

Grind you into sheep chow!", he promised, "A thousand curses on Nobody!"

I let my bow and arrow dissipate as the last of the automatons shut down and cast a Flashbang spell in the monster's direction causing it to howl in agony from the sudden noise. I used the extra time from his disorientation to get down to the ground.

"Faster!", Percy shouted at us.

We tore down the hill. The bridge was our only chance. Grover had just made it to the other side and was setting Annabeth down. We had to make it across, too, before the giant caught us.

"Grover!", Percy yelled, "Get Annabeth's knife!"

His eyes widened when he saw the Cyclops behind us, but he nodded like he understood. As Clarisse, Percy and I scrambled across the bridge, Grover began sawing at the ropes.

The first strand went snap!

Polyphemus bounded after us, making the bridge sway wildly.

The ropes were now half cut. We dove for solid ground, landing beside Grover. Percy made a wild slash with my sword and cut the remaining ropes.

The bridge fell away into the chasm, and the Cyclops howled ... with delight, because he was standing right next to us.

"Failed!", he yelled gleefully, "Nobody failed!"

Clarisse and Grover tried to charge him, but the monster swatted them aside like flies. I took out my daggers and got ready to charge him but someone else beat me to it.

Percy let out a fearsome roar and charged at him. He glowed with a greenish blue aura and contrary to our expectations, Polyphemus was the one who was outmatched. We stared with awe at the result of Poseidon's blessing, at least we believed it to be that. Percy's attacks were like hurricane, unrelenting, unforgiving and unstoppable and the Cyclops could do nothing but take it. Soon, Polyphemus was sprawled on his back, dazed and groaning, and Percy was standing over him, the tip of his sword hovering over his eye. I would never admit it to anyone else ever but at that moment, he looked quite cool.

"Uhhhhhhhh," Polyphemus moaned.

"Percy!", Grover gasped, "How did you—"

"Please, noooo!", the Cyclops moaned, pitifully staring up at him. His nose was bleeding. A tear welled in the corner of his half-blind eye. "M-m-my sheepies need me. Only trying to protect my sheep!"

He began to sob. Percy had won. All he had to do was stab-one quick strike.

"Kill him!", Clarisse yelled, "What are you waiting for?"

He's a Cyclops!", Grover warned, "Don't trust him!"

But Polyphemus sobbed ... and I knew then that Percy was going to go sentimental.

"We only want the Fleece.", Percy told the monster, "Will you agree to let us take it?"

"No!", Clarisse shouted, "Kill him!"

I kept silent. I personally agreed with her that letting an enemy live, especially one as treacherous as Polyphemus was outright stupidity but, call me selfish if you will, I did not want to be the reason for us getting stuck in an endless loop of this place.

The monster sniffed. "My beautiful Fleece. Prize of my collection. Take it, cruel human. Take it and go in peace."

"I'm going to step back slowly.", Percy told the monster, "One false move ..."

Polyphemus nodded like he understood. He stepped back ... and as fast as a cobra, Polyphemus smacked him to the edge of the cliff.

"Foolish mortal!", he bellowed, rising to his feet, "Take my Fleece? Ha! I eat you first."

He opened his enormous mouth, and then a rock the size of a basketball sailed into Polyphemus's throat-a beautiful three-pointer, nothing but net. The Cyclops choked, trying to swallow the unexpected pill. He staggered backward, but there was no place to stagger. His heel slipped, the edge of the cliff crumbled, and the great Polyphemus made chicken wing motions that did nothing to help him fly as he tumbled into the chasm.

I turned.

Halfway down the path to the beach, standing completely unharmed in the midst of a flock of killer sheep, was an old friend.

"Bad Polyphemus.", Tyson said, "Not all Cyclopes as nice as we look."

Tyson gave us the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus-who had apparently been following us ever since the Long Island Sound, waiting for Tyson to play with him-had found Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham and pulled him to safety. He and Tyson had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find us, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep and found this island.

I wanted to hug the big oaf, except he was standing in the middle of killer sheep.

"Tyson, thank the gods. Annabeth is hurt!", Percy said.

You thank the gods she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled.

I laughed. I never realised how much I missed Tyson's simple way of thinking until now.

"No!" We knelt beside Annabeth and I was shocked by what I saw. The gash on her forehead was worse than I had realized. Her hairline was sticky with blood. Her skin was pale and clammy. Percy and I exchanged nervous looks.

"Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?", Percy asked.

"Which one?" Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.

"In the tree!", he said, "The gold one!"

"Oh. Pretty. Yes."

Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. If any of us had tried to approach the Fleece, we would have been eaten alive, but I guess Tyson smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock did not bother him at all. They just cuddled up to him and bleated affectionately, as though they expected to get sheep treats from the big wicker basket.

Tyson reached up and lifted the Fleece off its branch. Immediately the leaves on the oak tree turned yellow. I felt about what was going to happen but as Emiya said in FSN, to save some, you might have to sacrifice many others. I still silently apologized to the trees and plants within my own mind.

Tyson started wading back toward us, but Percy yelled, "No time! Throw it!"

The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag Frisbee. Percy caught it with a grunt. It was heavier than he had expected. He spread it over Annabeth, covering everything but her face, while I prayed silently to all the gods I could think of. Please. Please. The color returned to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open. The cut on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, "You're not... married?" Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."

"Annabeth," I said, "just lay still."

But despite our protests she sat up, and I noticed that the cut on her face was almost completely healed. She looked a lot better. In fact, she shimmered with health, as if someone had injected her with glitter.

Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep.

"Down!", he told them as they tried to climb him, looking for food. A few were sniffing in our direction. "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!"

They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, and they were starting to realize Tyson didn't have any treats for them. They wouldn't hold out forever with so much fresh meat nearby. I tilted my head in thought. I wonder...

I pointed my wand at where Polyphemus' cave was and said, "Accio". For a moment, I thought I failed. Then I heard the sound of something moving in the wind and saw the wicker basket streaking towards me. I sent it in the direction of the sheep with a lazy flick. I love magic.

I took a moment to indulge in my smug superiority and then signalled Tyson to join us while the sheep were distracted by the meat.

"Keep the Fleece around you.", Percy told Annabeth. "Just in case you're not fully healed yet. Can you stand?"

She tried, but her face turned pale again. "Ohh. Not fully healed."

Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasp.

"Ribs broken.", Clarisse said, "They're mending, but definitely broken."

"How can you tell?", Percy asked.

Clarisse glared at him. "Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her."

Before he could argue, Clarisse picked up Annabeth like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach. The rest of us followed.

As soon as we got to the edge of the water, Percy and Tyson prayed. After a few anxious minutes, they emerged from the water-six beautiful horses with fish tails. Tyson must have told Rainbow, the hippocampus not me, about us before because there was one for each of us. We got on to them as quickly as we could though Clarisse and I, being first timers, took a bit more time to adjust.

It was then that we heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand. Percy quickly shouted, "Underwater" and the next thing we knew we were sinking. The boulders fell on the water but thankfully nowhere near us. For a moment, I thought Percy forgot we could not breath underwater but just as my neck touched water, a bubble surrounded each of our heads. I knew that we surfaced not long afterwards but I was too tired to care and soon fell asleep.

X-X-X-X-X

Omake (3rd Person Pov)

X-X-X-X-X

In the Camp we all know and love (hate in certain cases), there was a little girl who kept poking the flames. She seemed to frown once in a while. Then the prankster brothers Travis and Connor Stoll approached her with the ever present devilish gleam in their eyes that indicated that they were upto no good. They were dragging a girl behind them.

"I am not sure about this.", she said.

"Come on, magic girl. If Iris was here, she would have jumped in with us eagerly.", they replied.

"But-"

"You solved our space problem which had been there since...well, since the Hermes cabin existed. Surely, poking a stick into fire once in a while can't be that hard. Trust us.", they said giving her a thumbs up.

"Yes, trust the children of the God of Lies and Pranks, a very good idea.", she muttered.

They soon approached her gaining a scrutinising look from her fiery eyes.

"What is it that you need, children?", she asked.

Anyone who did not know the girl's true identity would be looking around searching for the owner of the soothing motherly voice. As everyone present was in the know, they simply accepted it as one of the odd quirks of the goddess.

"Lady Hestia", they bowed in unison.

"We need your help with a prank.", the brothers said.

"And you were intending to offer to have the poor girl kindling the fire as a bribe.", Hestia spoke sternly eliciting an uneasy laugh from them.

"Not a bribe, an encouragement. We will even pray to you and offer sacrifices if that is the type you prefer.", Travis quickly said.

"You do know that, as a goddess, I can't interfere in mortal affairs, don't you?", she asked raising a reddish brown eyebrow.

"But, Lady Hestia, you are the goddess of Home and Hearth and the Camp is our home. When an evil bas-I mean jerk steals Chiron's position and walks around as if he has any right to be here, as if he has any authority over us, there is nothing wrong with you helping us to fight against our oppressor.", Connor said passionately.

"Ah! So, your target is the new activities director. If you had said so at the beginning, I would have instantly agreed.", she replied.

On seeing their gobsmacked faces, the mischievous smile formef on the goddess' face.

"My less handsome brother, it looks like we were pranked.", Connor said.

"Yes, my less handsome brother, we indeed were pranked.", Travis replied.

"We are not worthy.", they bowed.

"Don't congratulate me so quickly, children. I have yet to do anything. I can tell you that your next meal time will be quite special.", she replied.

The brothers nodded in agreement understanding the meaning.

"You look upset, dear. Did you really want to help me with my job?", Hestia spoke.

"You don't mind?", Lou Ellen asked hesitantly.

"No one has ever shown an interest in my work let alone offered to help. Children always want cool, flashy and 'heroic' jobs. They don't even notice me when they don't want something from me.", she said sadly.

The way the Stoll brothers were shifting their feet uncomfortably was an indication of how good Hestia was at guilt tripping.

The daughter of Hecate spoke her previous shyness gone, her emerald green eyes glittering with determination, "My lady, whenever I have free time, I will help you. You don't have to be alone anymore."

The goddess smiled at her. "I am happy to hear that. Come, sit with me."

"Now that we have reached an agreement, it's time for us to leave, a lot of pranks to play and all that. We are sure the magic girl can do better than us."

They laughed weirdly and left quickly, a little too quickly, in my opinion. Inspite of their guilt, or perhaps because of it, they were scared of being tricked into helping out themselves.

"A secret between you and me.", Hestia spoke a mischievous smile on her face, "I don't need to physically kindle the flames most of the time. I just love doing it. Well, what your friends don't know won't hurt them."

Soon, it was lunch time and in the dining hall, everyone was eating merrily, well everyone except a certain prisoner on parole. He was slowly moving his fork towards the pastry. Suddenly, he struck out and ... actually hit it. He looked surprised for a moment after which a victorious smirk came to his face. He looked around as if he was afraid the pastry would suddenly escape somehow if someone else noticed his success. He opened his mouth and quickly brought it to his mouth and closed it. The next moment, it was like watching an anime. His eyes widened to comical proportions, he opened his mouth breathing fire. Then, he was running around like a headless chicken screaming his lungs out all the while the insides of his mouth were being burned. Many kids were laughing while others were looking around wondering what to do.

"Guys", came the rough gravely voice of the Hephaestus cabin counsellor, "Let's us not assume anything. He hasn't given us an order. For all we know, it might be his special way of celebration."

The kids kept to themselves after that, enjoying the show in their own way. Tantalus' running around was stopped by a pinecone tipped staff smashing into the back of his head knocking him out. Mr. D soon came into view, his clothes ruffled, his eyes blood shot as if he had just been rudely woken from sleep.

"Next person to disturb me with their incessant noise will spend the rest of their lives in an asylum.", he said in a calm quiet voice that could bring terror to the bravest of hearts.

Everyone was conspicuously silent for the rest of the day.

X-X-X-X-X


	6. Luke's Invitation

**POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS**

Chapter 6 : Luke's Invitation

X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

X-X-X-X-X

This chapter will be in Iris' Pov unless stated otherwise.

X-X-X-X-X

"Oi! Iris, wake up."

Salt water splashed my face. Clarisse was roughly shaking my shoulder. Not the best way to wake up of course. The force she was using would have dislocated the shoulders of an average mortal if not torn apart. Luckily, for me, due to being part god, even the most physically weak demigod had superior physical attributes compared to average mortal of their age group.

In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. It seemed we passed through the Clashing Rocks while I was asleep. After all, the Sun never set in the Sea of Monsters. I could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, store-fronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Miami, I think," Annabeth said, perhaps in response to some question Percy must have asked, "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

Sure enough, our fishy friends had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them sneezed.

"This is as far as they'll take us.", Percy said, "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

None of us was very psyched about that, but we thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he had made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he had salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he had picked up on the island, and said good-bye.

It seemed Polyphemus missed out on having mango chutney too. Poor guy. With the Golden Fleece gone, he might never get the chance.

Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, we swam for shore. The waves pushed us forward, and in no time we were back in the mortal world. We wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed us-five kids dripping wet and looking like they had just had a fight with a monster-they did not let on.

Now that we were back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red and gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket for a moment before shifting back.

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!", Clarisse said.

But I knew it was not. Time traveled differently in sub-dimensions or pocket dimensions that had so much magic or divinity involved. It happened on our visit to the Underworld and Olympus. We were just too stressed to take note of it then.

"Thalia's tree must be almost dead.", Grover wailed, "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."

I frowned. While I gave the tree a few more days with my nature healing, it was quite possible that poison damage accelerated beyond my predictions. It was better to get the Fleece to the camp as soon as possible.

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?"

Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered-"

"Percy's fault?!", Annabeth exploded, "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest-"

"Stop it!", Percy snapped.

Clarisse put her head in hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.

"Clarisse", I said, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

She looked up. I thought she was going to tell me off, but instead she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:

" **You shall sail with another the iron ship with warriors of bone,**

 **You shall find what you seek and make it your own,**

 **But despair for your life entombed within stone,**

 **And fail without friends, to fly home alone.** "

"Ouch," Grover mumbled.

"No," Percy said. "No ... wait a minute. I've got it."

He searched his pockets for money, and found nothing but a golden drachma.

"Does anybody have any cash?"

Annabeth and Grover shook their heads morosely. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed. I checked and found that I had drachmas and galleons aplenty but not much of mortal cash. Guess I forgot to convert.

"Damn! Even the Rich Girl doesn't have much cash.", Clarisse said.

I tried to hide my irritation at the stupid nickname but I think my eyebrows might have twitched, just a little.

"Cash?", Tyson asked hesitantly, "Like ... green paper?"

Percy looked at him. "Yeah."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?"

"Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g—"

He stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in our supplies. He really should stop underestimating Tyson.

"Tyson!", Percy said, "How did you—"

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow.", he said, "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

I felt a smile appear on my face and I could see the rest of us were amused too.

He handed over the cash. Fives and tens, at least three hundred dollars. He ran to the curb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers.

"Clarisse", he yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece."

I am not sure which of them looked more stunned as he took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in Clarisse's arms.

"It's the obvious solution.", I piped in.

Clarisse looked at him suspiciously, "You'd let me—"

"It's your quest.", Percy said, "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can't travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely."

It took her more than a moment to get over the fact that Percy, of all people, was backing her up. She then quickly jumped in the cab and called for airport.

"You can count on me. I won't fail."

"Not failing would be good."

The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust. The Fleece was on its way.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "that was so—"

Generous?", Grover offered.

"Insane.", Annabeth corrected, "You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"

"It's her quest," he replied. "She deserves a chance."

"Percy is nice.", Tyson said.

"Percy is too nice.", Annabeth grumbled, but I could see that she was a little impressed. It was difficult to surprise someone who had the Eye of the Mind ( True ) skill calculating all possibilities but Percy somehow managed it.

"Come on," I said, "Let's find another way home."

That's when I felt a sharp point of what I assumed to be a spear tap my back in warning. I then saw Percy held at sword point by Luke.

"Hey, cuz," said Luke. "Welcome back to the States."

Two bear-man thugs appeared on either of side of us. The Bear Twins were somewhere around eight feet tall, wearing nothing but blue jeans, chest covered by shag-carpeted thick brown fur, with claws for fingers, a snout for a nose, and all their teeth being pointed canines.

One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.

"Percy," Luke said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together."

The more idiotic looking one grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming. I held up my hands in universal surrender pose. To be honest, I was trying to keep a smile off my face. The presence of the two muscle heads reminded me of Draco Malfoy and his two bodyguards. But, even in his dreams, Malfoy could not do suave and charming while Luke did it naturally.

"What do you want, Luke?", Percy growled.

He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face. He gestured toward the end of the dock where the biggest boat in port rested, the Princess Andromeda.

"Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."

X-X-X-X-X

The bear twins and the one behind me who I guessed to be a dracanea herded us aboard the Princess Andromeda. They threw us down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke's assorted goons-dracanea, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor-had gathered to watch us get some "hospitality."

~Why do you side with them, Serpent Sister?~

I asked her knowing that to anyone else it would look like I was hissing in discomfort. I was really curious about their opinions. Did they join due to their general hatred of gods and demigods or did they have grudge against someone specific or did Kronos promise them something else?

~You should have accepted his offer, Speaker. You will fall and so will the gods. If it were up to me, I will make your death swift and painless.~

I frowned. There was not much I could get from her other than that we would have gotten on well had we been on the same side. Pity.

"Hello, little Iris, I forgot you were not here last time.", Luke said sweeping his arms in a grandiose manner, "Let me introduce you to these two gentlemen. Orieus, Agrius, this is Iris, daughter of Artemis."

Upon hearing my mother's name, they lost their interest in others and glared at me. They growled and looked ready to pounce on me and tear me apart with their bare claws. Theirs was not a 'your mother hunted us so we will hunt you' look. It felt more personal, more Snape-like. It was creepy.

"Nice to meet you...or not"

It took a few moments to remember why their name was familiar. Their mother was a daughter of Ares who refused Aphrodite's demands to marry and joined the Hunters. Not one to handle rejection well, Aphrodite charmed her to sleep with a bear and from what I heard, mother caught her in the act and expelled. The Bear Twins were the children from the act. While I felt bad for the woman, Artemis was a victim too, even if not as much as the former. She lost a Hunter after all. I felt Aphrodite was the only one that should be blamed. Of course, I knew better than to say my thoughts out loud. I was a Gryffindor, yes, but not lacking in common sense or survival instincts unlike some I could name.

"Agrius, Orieus, calm. You will have the chance to get to know her personally later on.", Luke said, "So, what do you think of my hospitality?"

"I am impressed.", I replied honestly, "If everything Annabeth and Percy told me was true, this ship was something I would want for myself."

"It is, isn't it?"

"To think, you not only managed to appropriate it for yourself but built a military base on it right under gods' nose... You are your father's son after all."

I watched amused as the pleased look on his face darkened into a scowl.

"It has nothing to do with **him**. That man deserves no credit for my personal accomplishments.", he hissed and then took a moment to calm himself, "I was actually talking about the additions I have made specifically for you. It seems you have not noticed them yourself."

I frowned. I knew he was not talking about the bear giants. Now that I thought about it, ever since I was brought to the ship, I could feel a pressure on me as if something was weighing me down.

"Territory Creation?"

He simply tilted his head with a smile on his face.

Territory Creation was simply a fancy name for using magic on a place so that it favours us over others. Different magic users had different versions of it. Irish wizards and sorcerers used geas contracts in wards. Hogwarts was another example with its constantly shifting staircases, secret passageways. The point was that it could be as simple as the Magic Dampening wards in the Ministry holding cells or the stuff of nightmares like Bloodfort Andromeda.

Unlike what is shown in FSN anime, it was Medea's creation rather than Medusa's but they got the function right. It would suck out magic from the intruders at a specific rate and use it to strengthen the wards or her. Anyone with reserves below the threshold would simply be converted to pure magic and consumed. There was a reason the only one who could kill her was the son she could never bring herself to harm. Before her death, she had even managed to find a way to use the remaining lifespan of her victims to enhance her own. Medea of Colchis was a truly terrifying woman.

Salazar Slytherin was another magic user skilled at it. He, after all, created the Chamber of Secrets and designed the defences of Hogwarts. From what Dumbledore told me, the Chamber was designed to favour Parselmouths over others, though how far he did not know. During my brief foray there, when there were two Parselmouths fighting for dominance, it forced us on equal footing. When Riddle brought along the basilisk-drakon hybrid, Fawkes was called in to assist me.

On focusing, I was able to ascertain that other than Magic Dampening wards, it was the standard package : Anti-Portkey, Anti-Apparation-Disapparation... Magic Dampening ward restricts any focusing or manipulation of magic outside our body. Animagus transformations or even my Shifting would not be restricted as they were internal manipulations but it was not going to do me much good here. I was not the typical wizard who was helpless without magic but it made the situation more difficult regardless, lot more difficult. Basically, I was restricted to my demigod abilities which Luke had knowledge about and might have prepared counters for.

"And so, the Fleece," Luke mused. "Where is it?"

He looked us over, prodding Percy's shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover's jeans.

"Hey!", Grover yelled, "That's real goat fur under there!"

"Sorry, old friend.", Luke smiled, "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

"Blaa-ha-ha!", Grover protested, "Some old friend!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me.", Luke's voice was dangerously calm, "Where-is-the-Fleece?"

"Not here.", Percy said, "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."

He should not have told Luke outright. Then again, if we had kept quiet, Luke might have resorted to more drastic measures to get the information.

Luke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have ..."

His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "Clarisse?"

Percy nodded. You know what, forget what I said earlier about suave and charming.

"You trusted ... you gave ..."

"Yeah."

"Agrius!"

The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"

"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast."

"But, boss-"

Do it!", Luke screamed, "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they had never seen their boss so unhinged before.

"You've been toying with us all along.", Percy suddenly shouted drawing everyone's attention towards him, "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke scowled. "Of course, you idiot! And you've messed everything up!"

"Traitor!", Percy took his last gold drachma out of his pocket and threw it at Luke. As I expected, he dodged it easily. Even if Luke was too angry to see it, I could see that Percy was using himself as the distraction but for what or whom. I looked at others and they looked as clueless as I was.

The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water. I then understood what his plan was and was impressed. It was a cunning plan and the best thing was that his reputation at the Camp as the idiot meant no one would expect it of him.

You tricked all of us!", Percy yelled at Luke, "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!"

Fun fact 1 : Goddess Iris provides Video Conferencing at one-third of the price of calling each individual one at a time.

Fun fact 2 : Once a call is initiated, there is no need to throw additional drachmas at the rainbow. You just have to pray with them in hand and the goddess will do the rest.

The moment I felt the money in my hand disappear, I saw the image of the Camp get smaller surrounded by small images of other gods, the overall image resembling the keypad of an olden days telephone. While I could not see them clearly yet, I knew they could see and hear perfectly.

Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but everyone else's attention was on Percy who uncapped Riptide and was holding his sword like a medieval knight about to challenge his opponent to an honour duel. I guess monsters did not have many avenues of entertainment available to them.

Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?"

"I did, of course.", he snarled, "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."

"Chiron had nothing to do with it?"

"Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts."

"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?"

Luke raised his sword. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it."

"You were going to heal Kronos.", Percy said.

"Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little.", Luke replied.

"But, that's impossible. For Fleece to heal some one, there has to be some one not thousands of pieces scattered all over Tartarus unless..." I paused as a truly horrifying possibility came to my mind.

Luke smiled, a feral smile that made him look more a beast than human. "So, you have figured it out. Yes, Iris. Greatness always requires sacrifices. Some one would have to be the core for all the pieces to gather around, some one who already has a physical body. At least, with Fleece, I don't have to worry about the vessel being strong enough, any one will do. With time, Lord Kronos will recover his old powers and alter it to his old form. I was originally going to use the least useful one among my forces but some one else has irritated me enough to choose him. Congratulations, Percy Jackson."

"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up-all to help Kronos destroy the gods.", Percy summarised.

Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

Oh Luke! For some one so clever, you could be so stupid.

"Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you."

"What audience?"

Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back. Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion, surrounded by visions of other gods. They sat in stunned silence, watching us.

"Well," said Zeus dryly, "that was interesting. "

"Lord Zeus, you heard him.", Percy said bowing his head, "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

For a moment, the King of Gods kept quiet and then sighed, "I suppose not. Dionysus, put that errant son of mine back where he belongs. Hopefully, Hestia will stop being such a nuisance."

I raised my eyebrow in surprise. I did not think he intended the last part to be heard by us.

"The Iris-message could be a trick, father.", Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

"I fear not.", Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus, "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It did not bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world.

"I got it!", he cackled.

"We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus.", Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But-"

"You may return to the Underworld. You are dis-missed."

"No! But-Nooooooooooo!"

As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.

Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.

Luke turned and gave Percy a murderous look. "Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced."

I was not sure what he meant, but I did not have time to think about it. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling. I was ready for a fight but I was not confident about the odds of success. They were too many of them to deal with, especially without magic.

Luke smiled at him. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

"One on one," Percy challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of?"

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.

Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus I had ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied.

"Sir!", Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!"

Luke kept his eyes on Percy.

"I told you last summer, Percy.", he said. "You can't bait me into a fight."

"And you keep avoiding one.", Percy retaliated, "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Luke glanced at his men, and he saw Percy had trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak, especially after they saw how easily Percy had outsmarted him. If he fought him, he would lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. On the up-side, Percy had brought us valuable time. On the down-side, I knew how good Luke was at sword-fighting.

"I'll kill you quickly.", he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than Riptide. Its blade glinted with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze.

Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield. He grinned wickedly.

"Luke," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."

"Sorry, Annabeth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."

I wished I could say I was surprised but I was not. For all that he whined and threw temper tantrums at the association, Luke still followed the Hermes cabin motto : If you are not cheating, you are not trying.

The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill. I might have had no skill with a sword but Luke taught us well.

Luke lunged and almost killed him on the first try. Backbiter went under his arm, slashing through his shirt and grazing his ribs. Percy jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed his blade away with his shield.

"My, Percy," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."

The son of Hermes came at him again with a swipe to the head. Percy parried, returned with a thrust. He sidestepped easily.

When Luke lunged again, Percy jumped backward into the swimming pool. He spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke's face. The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. But before Percy could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again.

Percy attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that did not even faze him. Luke dropped to a crouch and jabbed at his legs. Suddenly, Percy collapsed. It seemed that the sword

Luke hacked downward and he rolled behind a deck chair. Percy tried to stand, but his leg could not take the weight.

"Perrrrrcy!", Grover bleated.

Percy rolled again as Luke's sword slashed the deck chair in half, metal pipes and all. He clawed toward the swimming pool but I knew he had never make it. Luke knew it, too. He advanced slowly, smiling. The edge of his sword was tinged with red.

"One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy."

He looked at the bear-man Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth and Grover by the necks. "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appetit."

He-he! He-he!" The bear-man lifted my friends and bared his teeth. I brought out my daggers discretely and got ready to throw one of them the moment it opened its mouth. That's when all Hades broke loose.

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius's mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck.

"Brother!" Agrius wailed.

He let the pegasus's reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head and fly away free over Miami Bay.

For a split second, Luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins' bodies dissolve into smoke, but I was not. I instantly went invisible and started slashing at any exposed skin. The monsters instantly dissipated into dust unable to withstand the venom and the demigods... Mind you, I did not hate them irrespective of their choices but when the choice was between my life and theirs, I would choose mine every time.

Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

"Ponies!" Tyson cried with delight.

Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER. Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number I. Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.

They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even Luke was stunned. I could not tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack.

Apparently both. As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custommade arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

His warriors scattered. I could not blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it's a centaur, armed with a bow and whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

"Come get some!" yelled one of the party ponies.

They let loose with their paintball guns. A wave of blue and yellow exploded against Luke's warriors, blinding them and splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip and fall. Chiron galloped toward Annabeth and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited them on his back. A palomino centaur hoised me on his back. Luke was crawling out of the pool.

"Attack, you fools.", Luke ordered his troops.

Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed. I knew any second we would be swamped by Luke's reinforcements. Already, his warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn. Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay. But more warriors were coming up the stairs.

"Withdraw, brethren!", Chiron said.

"You won't get away with this, horse man!", Luke shouted.

He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deck chair.

A palomino centaur hoisted Percy onto his back right behind me. "Dude, get your big friend!"

"Tyson!", Percy yelled. "Come on!"

Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after us. He jumped on another centaur's back.

"Dude!", the centaur groaned, almost buckling under Tyson's weight, "Do the words 'low-carb diet' mean anything to you?"

Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase and not ten stories above the ground. For a moment, it seemed like we were going to die. We plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as we raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

X-X-X-X-X

I have no idea what the Miamians thought as we galloped by.

Streets and buildings began to blur as the centaurs picked up speed. It felt as if space were compacting-as if each centaur step took us miles and miles. In no time, we had left the city behind. We raced through marshy fields of high grass and ponds and stunted trees.

Finally, we found ourselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions and mini-refrigerators and mosquito netting. We were in a centaur camp.

"Dude!", said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "Did you see that bear guy? He was all like: 'Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!'"

The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. "That was awesome! Head slam!"

The two centaurs charged at each other full-force and knocked heads, then went staggering off in different direc-tions with crazy grins on their faces. Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth and Grover down on a picnic blanket next to me. "I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. They don't have the brain cells to spare." "Chiron," Percy said, still stunned by the fact that he was here. "You saved us."

He gave me a dry smile. "Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name."

"But how did you know where we were?", Annabeth asked.

"Advanced planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami." "Gee, thanks," Grover mumbled.

"No, no," Chiron said. "I didn't mean ... Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal. Iris and I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. It then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. As you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. Distance for us is not the same as distance for humans."

I nodded. It seemed centaurs were capable of warping space to travel at sub-light speeds. I wondered whether their Celtic counterparts had the same ability. I wondered what else I did not know about centaurs. I looked over at the campfire, where three party ponies were teaching Tyson to operate a paintball gun. I hoped they knew what they were getting into.

"So what now?", Percy asked Chiron. "We just let Luke sail away? He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway."

Chiron knelt, carefully folding his front legs underneath him. He opened the medicine pouch on his belt and started to treat his wounds. "I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organized enough to pursue us. Nobody won."

"But we got the Fleece!", Annabeth said. "Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now."

Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. "You are all true heroes. And as soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you."

"You're coming, too?", Percy asked.

"Oh yes, Percy. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music. Besides, I must have some words with Mr. D. There's the rest of the summer to plan. So much training to do. And I want to see ... I'm curious about the Fleece."

I did not know exactly what he meant, but it made me worried about what Luke had said: I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it.

Had he just been lying? No. I had learned with Kronos there was usually a plan within a plan. He was not called the Crooked One for nothing. He had ways of getting people to do what he wanted without them ever realizing his true intentions.

Over by the campfire, Tyson let loose with his paintball gun. A blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backward into the lake. The centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck and blue paint, and gave Tyson two thumbs up.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "perhaps you, Iris and Grover would go supervise Tyson and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?"

By the way he looked at us, we knew he wanted to speak to Percy alone.

"Sure, Chiron," Annabeth said. "Come on, goat boy."

"But I don't like paintball."

"Yes, you do."

She hoisted Grover to his hooves and led him off toward the campfire and I followed. Despite Chiron's words, we ended up joining them in their 'bad habits'. Annabeth and I joined one team while Grover joined the one with Tyson in it. Interestingly, Grover was now quite comfortable being near Tyson. We fought fiercely and in the end, all of us were blue, yellow, green, orange and red.

It was different shooting others and being shot at when there were no lives on the line. It was very fun and relaxing. To be honest, we all loved the chance to just act our age without worrying about stolen weapons of mass destruction, poisoned trees amd cryptic words of a decrepit mummy.

When it was time to move on, we jumped into the lake to wash off the colours. After we came out, I dried all of us with a casual wave of my hand relishing the return of my ability to cast magic.

X-X-X-X-X

We arrived in Long Island right after Clarisse, thanks to centaur's travel powers. I idly noted that Clarisse had changed out of her wedding garb somewhere in between. When we got to camp, the centaurs were anxious to meet Dionysus. They had heard he threw some really wild parties, but they were fated to be disappointed. The wine god was in no mood to celebrate as the whole camp gathered at the top of Half-Blood Hill.

The camp had been through a hard two weeks. The arts and crafts cabin had burned to the ground from an attack by a Aeneas dragon which, while not as dangerous as Ethiopian drakon or Ladon, was no pushover. Even with Mist working overtime, sometimes, Roman monsters ended up in the east and vice versa.

The main difference between the two was that drakon was Greek while dragon was Roman. Drakons were basically flying serpents who could spit acid or poison. Dragons were giant winged lizards who could spit fire. Of course, both were called dragons in ancient times. After the fall of Roman Empire, when both types existed at the same time, need for differentiating them came. Chinese civilisation, which was as old as Greek, still equated dragons with flying serpents after all.

The Big House's rooms were overflowing with wounded. The kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid. Everybody looked weary and battered as we crowded around Thalia's tree. It seemed having to fend off monster after monster in the absence of all potential Camp leaders had taken a toll on their morale.

The moment Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from gray to liquid silver. A cool breeze rustled in the branches and rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley. Everything came into sharper focus-the glow of the fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the straw-berry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach. Gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

Everybody cheered. It was happening slowly, but there could be no doubt-the Fleece's magic was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and expelling the poison.

Chiron ordered a twenty-four/seven guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the Fleece. He said he would place an ad in Olympus Weekly right away.

In the meantime, Clarisse was carried on her cabin mates' shoulders down to the amphitheater while Hermes and Apollo cabin did the same for me. We were honored with a laurel wreath and there was a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

Nobody gave Annabeth or Percy a second look. It was as if they had never left. In a way, I guess that was the best thanks anyone could give them, because if they admitted they had snuck out of camp to do the quest, they had have to expel them.

Later that night, we roasted s'mores and listened to the Stoll brothers tell us a ghost story about an evil king who was eaten alive by demonic breakfast pastries.

The next morning, after the party ponies headed back to Florida, Chiron made a surprise announcement: the chariot races would go ahead as scheduled. We had all believed they were history now that Tantalus was gone, but completing them did feel like the right thing to do, especially now that Chiron was back and the camp was safe. We needed a memory of a fun chariot race to get a closure on the unmentionable disaster.

Tyson understandably was not too keen on the idea of getting back in a chariot after his first experience, but he was happy to let Percy team up with Annabeth. Unlike the last time, Annabeth was quite accepting of Tyson. It seemed the quest changed her too.

It was decided among them that Percy would drive, Annabeth would defend, and Tyson would act as their pit crew. While I worked with the horses, Tyson fixed up Athena's chariot and added a whole bunch of special modifications.

While they spent the next two days training, I spent them in the woods, talking with them, learning about various herbs. They were quite willing to talk as long as you were willing to listen. While my main purpose was to find a rare herb to give as birthday gift to Neville, I did learn many interesting things.

X-X-X-X-X

The next morning, everybody was buzzing about the chariot race, though they kept glancing nervously toward the sky like they expected to see Stymphalian birds gathering. None did. It was a beautiful summer day with blue sky and plenty of sunshine. The camp had started to look the way it should look: the meadows were green and lush; the white columns gleamed on the Greek buildings; dryads played happily in the woods.

As Annabeth and Percy drove onto the track, I could not help admiring the work Tyson had done on the Athena chariot. The carriage gleamed with bronze reinforcements. The wheels were realigned with magical suspension so we glided along with hardly a bump. The rigging for the horses was so perfectly balanced that the team turned at the slightest tug of the reins. Tyson's improved skills combined with Annabeth's mind for design had produced a masterful work of art. The last time, I could not get out soon enough. This time, I wished I could participate too. Then I would be able to stay on the chariot longer.

Tyson had also made us two javelins, each with three buttons on the shaft. The first button primed the javelin to explode on impact, releasing razor wire that would tangle and shred an opponent's wheels. The second button produced a blunt (but still very painful) bronze spearhead designed to knock a driver out of his carriage. The third button brought up a grappling hook that could be used to lock onto an enemy's chariot or push it away.

I believed they were well prepared for the race, but Tyson still warned us that the other chariot teams had plenty of tricks themselves. Considering that Hephaestus cabin was as much his home as Poseidon cabin, it was to be taken seriously.

"Here," he said, just before the race began.

Tyson handed Percy a wristwatch. There was not anything special about it-just a white-and-silver clock face, a black leather strap but as soon as I saw it I realized that this was what I had seen him tinkering on all summer. Knowing how hard he worked at it and the timing of his gift, I had a feeling on what it truly was underneath the simple appearance.

"Thanks, man." Percy put it on and seemed to like it.

"Didn't finish in time for the trip," Tyson mumbled.

I knew he was alluding to Percy's fight with Luke and felt bad for him. I patted him on his back and said, "It's alright, big guy. Sometimes things just don't happen the way we want. Atleast, you finished before the race."

"Yeah, man. No big deal."

"If you need protection in race," he advised, "hit the button."

"Ah, okay.", Percy replied though I could see that he was clueless.

"Percy, you do know that the watch is just the compressed form of the shield, don't you?", I said amused.

"What? Oh-"

I cackled on seeing the look of shock on his face. He really was so dense. Once the surprise was over, Percy thanked him more profusely while I rolled my eyes at it.

"And, hey, um, Tyson ..."

Tyson looked at him.

"I wanted to say, well ..."

I turned away and pretended not to hear to give them a semblance of privacy.

"I know what you will tell me.", Tyson said, looking ashamed, "Poseidon did care for me after all."

"Uh, well—"

"He sent you to help me. Just what I asked for."

"You asked Poseidon for ... me?"

"For a friend," Tyson said, twisting his shirt in his hands. "Young Cyclopes grow up alone on the streets, learn to make things out of scraps. Learn to survive."

But that's so cruel!"

He shook his head earnestly. "Makes us appreciate blessings, not be greedy and mean and fat like Polyphemus. But I got scared. Monsters chased me so much, clawed me sometimes—"

"The scars on your back?"

It was my turn to be shocked. "What? But-"

He patted my head comforting me in return.

"No worry. Didn't touch scars. No pain."

He seemed lost for a moment and a tear welled in his eye. "Sphinx on Seventy-second Street. Big bully. I prayed to Daddy for help. Soon the people at Meriwether found me. Met you. Biggest blessing ever. Sorry I said Poseidon was mean. He sent me a brother." "Percy!", Annabeth called, "Come on!"

Chiron was at the starting line, ready to blow the conch.

"Tyson ..." I said.

"Go," Tyson said. "You will win!"

I gave them both a hug and wished them luck.

"Tyson and I will cheer you from the stands.", I said careful to pat his hand, "Come, Tyson, we have a victory to witness."

As soon as Chiron blew the signal, they shot down the track so fast they took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot. I was glad to have the natural good eyesight of archers. I could see the details from here as well as if I was there myself. I was quite happy to fill in the details for Tyson whose eye was designed for distinguishing details of tiny screws and pins and had more difficulty than normal person at seeing long distance.

Percy shouted something I could not hear. Annabeth shouted something and threw her first javelin in grappling hook mode, knocking away a lead-weighted net that would have entangled them both. Apollo's chariot had come up on their flank. Before Annabeth could rearm herself, the Apollo warrior threw a javelin into our right wheel. The javelin shattered, but not before snapping some of our spokes. Their chariot lurched and wobbled. I was sure the wheel would collapse altogether, but they somehow kept going.

They were now neck and neck with Apollo. Hephaestus was coming up close behind. Ares and Hermes were falling behind, riding side by side as Clarisse went sword-on-javelin with Connor Stoll. If they took one more hit to their wheel, I knew they would capsize.

The driver from Apollo yelled what I assumed to be a challenge. He was a first-year camper. I didn't remember his name, but he looked to have more ego than sense. Annabeth yelled back. She picked up her second javelin-a real risk considering it was their last one and they still had one full lap to go and threw it at the Apollo driver. The idiot might have really aggravated her for her to strike back in force.

Her aim was perfect. The javelin grew a heavy spear point just as it caught the driver in the chest, knocking him against his teammate and sending them both toppling out of their chariot in a backward somersault. The horses felt the reins go slack and went crazy, riding straight for the crowd. The campers sitting near the bottom scrambled for cover as the horses leaped the corner of the bleachers and the golden chariot flipped over. The horses galloped back toward their stable, dragging the upside-down chariot behind them.

They held their own chariot together through the second turn. They passed the starting line and thundered into their final lap. Their right wheel was wobbling more and more making them lose speed, even though the horses were running like a well-oiled machine.

The Hephaestus team was still gaining. Beckendorf grinned as he pressed a button on his command console. Steel cables shot out of the front of his mechanical horses, wrapping around their back rail. Their chariot shuddered as Beckendorf's winch system started working-pulling us backward while Beckendorf pulled himself forward.

Annabeth cursed and drew her knife. She hacked at the cables but they were too thick. She yelled in frustration. The Hephaestus chariot was now dangerously close, their horses about to trample us underfoot.

Percy said something to Annabeth and they switched positions. He slashed down with his sword and the cables snapped like kite string. They lurched forward, but Beckendorf's driver just swung his chariot to their left and pulled up next to them.

Beckendorf drew his sword. He slashed at Annabeth, and Percy parried the blade away. They were coming up on the last turn. It did not look like they would make it. Percy needed to disable the Hephaestus chariot and get it out of the way, but he had to protect Annabeth, too. Just because Beckendorf was a nice guy did not mean he would not send them to the infirmary if they were stupid enough to let their guard down. They were neck to neck now, Clarisse coming up from behind, making up for lost time. We were on the edge of the seats eager to see who would win.

Beckendorf suddenly threw a leather pouch into their chariot. It stuck to the floor immediately and began billowing green smoke.

I cursed. I had heard stories about what Greek fire could do. I figured he had maybe ten seconds before it exploded. Now would be a good time for Percy to remember he has a shield with him.

Annabeth shouted, I guessed, to get rid of it but Percy did not seem to have much success.

Hephaestus's chariot was still alongside, waiting until the last second to make sure their little present blew up. Beckendorf was keeping Percy busy with his sword. If he let his guard down long enough to deal with the Greek fire, Annabeth would get sliced and they would crash anyway. He tried to kick the leather pouch away with his foot, but he could not. It was stuck fast. 10 points to Hephaestus cabin for planning and execution.

Then Percy punched the stopwatch button. Finally, he remembered. Instantly, the watch changed. It expanded, the metal rim spiraling outward like an old-fashioned camera shutter, a leather strap wrapping around his forearm until he was holding a round war shield four feet wide, the inside soft leather, the outside polished bronze engraved with designs I could not properly examine from here.

Percy raised the shield, and Beckendorf's sword clanged against it. His blade shattered. "What?", he shouted, "How-"

He didn't have time to say more because Percy knocked him in the chest with his new shield and sent him flying out of his chariot, tumbling in the dirt. He was about use Riptide to slash at the driver when Annabeth yelled at him.

The Greek fire was shooting sparks. Percy shoved the tip of his sword under the leather pouch and flipped it up like a spatula. The firebomb dislodged and flew into the Hephaestus chariot at the driver's feet. He yelped. In a split second the driver made the right choice: he dove out of the chariot, which careened away and exploded in green flames. The metal horses seemed to short-circuit. They turned and dragged the burning wreckage back toward Clarisse and the Stoll brothers, who had to swerve to avoid it.

Annabeth pulled the reins for the last turn. The chariot looked like it would would capsize, but somehow she brought them through and spurred the horses across the finish line.

The crowd roared. Once the chariot stopped, all of us charged at them and mobbed them. We started chanting their names, but Annabeth yelled over the noise: "Hold up! Listen! It wasn't just us!"

The crowd did not want to be quiet, but Annabeth made herself heard: "We couldn't have done it without somebody else! We couldn't have won this race or gotten the Fleece or saved Grover or anything! We owe our lives to Tyson, Percy's ..."

"Brother!", Percy said, loud enough for everybody to hear. "Tyson, my baby brother."

Tyson blushed. The crowd cheered. Annabeth planted a kiss on his cheek. The roaring got a lot louder after that. The entire Athena cabin lifted Percy, Annabeth and Tyson onto their shoulders and carried them toward the winner's platform, where Chiron was waiting to bestow the laurel wreaths.

X-X-X-X-X

Madrigal-In-Training : It's big reviews like yours that inspire me to continue writing.

As for Tantalus issue, while I would love the blood and gore, there was no way the demigods would be able to get away with outright torture.

You were right about the gods but don't forget that they are shaped by human beliefs. How can beings who can not comprehend perfection create perfect being?

Don't miss the next chapter. There will be many interesting things happening in it.


	7. Princess of Thunder

**POTTER FILES : THE SEA OF MONSTERS**

Chapter 7 : Princess of Thunder

X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.

X-X-X-X-X

You might have already read it many times but this chapter is in Iris' Pov. There is a mention of nudity but I am not sure whether I should change the story rating to M just for that. I am not sure whether it is even possible to write a kiddie story for PJO considering that it's basically about pre-marital/extra-marital relationships and their aftermath.

X-X-X-X-X

Before the chariot race

X-X-X-X-X

Annabeth and I sat cross legged on the floor in the Artemis cabin. I was teaching her to meditate. I know I told her I would not be teaching her magic but Lou Ellen apparently was busy with a project of her own and asked me to get her started. So, I ended up with the unenviable job of teaching meditation to an ADHD affected demigod. It would have been easier if Annabeth had been a natural born witch but when I asked about it, she was adamant she did nothing weird that was not connected to her demigod life. It meant I would have to help her activate her magic herself. Well, I had always wondered how well I would do as a teacher.

She opened her eyes and sighed.

"Didn't get it?", I asked her.

She looked at me with eyes so full of irritation that I faltered. Apparently, not so good.

"Are you sure this is the correct way?"

"Eh. It's what she told me. I have never done it myself. It's not like I needed it."

By the look on her face, well, perhaps, I should not have stated the last part. She then gave me a smile that was a little too sweet for the situation. "If you can tell me what to look for, it will be nice."

I sighed. I guessed an explanation was in order. "Magic, in the most simplicitic words, is the diluted form of divinity. Many people tend to call natural born magicals Hecate's legacies or Hecate blessed which is ridiculous. The former is understandable as not many know about magic and its connection to gods. To be honest, a magical could be the descendant of any supernatural entity. The latter, on the other hand, ..., it is as if they believe that gods give away their blessings like candies during Halloween to kids they don't know or care about for no reason at all."

"So, I just have to concentrate on everything I inherited from my mom and my magic will activate by itself."

I considered that statement for a moment and then nodded. It was exactly what I intended to convey. Well, she was the child of Athena. It was to be expected. At least, she was now more curious than irritated.

"When you said any supernatural entity, did you mean monsters too?", she asked.

"Yes. The caretaker of my school, Hagrid, is a half-giant. I don't know which kind. My Charms professor is at least a quarter goblin if not half. Don't ask me how beings with such vast differences in size can reproduce. I have no interest in the details.", I replied.

I noticed that my comment caused her to grimace and her cheeks had a greenish tinge to it. I smirked. It seemed Eye of the Mind ( True ) skill was not always a good thing. Her mind must have been analysing in detail all the different ways it could happen.

"Anyway, the descendants were differentiated by many levels. The bottom most position was for ordinary mortals who were fooled by the simplest of Muggle repellent charm. Then came the Squibs who were immune to Muggle repellent charm and had enough magical presence to use brooms, Floo network and could even brew low level potions but were susceptible to Mist, which was divine level magic. In short, they can do enough to make a living of it but you will not see any Squib potions master. After that were clear sighted mortals who had all the abilities of Squibs but also could see through Mist. Then came wizards who could only be mislead if the Mist was tailored to them."

"That was what gods did during the Great Seperation.", she nodded, "What about demigods who are not natural born wizards or witches?"

"Only those demigods whose mortal birth parent is a witch/wizard can be naturals. Others have to activate or awaken their magic which is what I was having you do. I think it is an ingrained safety feature, like a demigod ignorant about their divine parentage being safer from monsters. Demigods, magical or not, are not considered 'muggle' enough for any of the charms to work. There are mentions of Elementalists in the wizarding world, who can apparently control the element without wand movements, incantations and even wand itself. As they can not do 'wizarding magic', they are considered more along the lines of magical creatures rather than humans. I don't know about those other than the children of the Big Three. Perhaps, the Mist had wiped out everything."

"So, if Percy can't do wizard's magic, why do you believe I can?", she asked.

"It's not that Percy can't do wizard's magic, it's just that he is incompatible with it. His divine inheritance made him too specialised. Then again, considering that he could learn Atlantean magic, I can't see him feeling bad about it. Your inherited speciality, Annabeth, is knowledge and how to use it. You are the blank canvas, the wild card, the jack of all trades, choose whatever you want. You can learn any kind of magic.", I replied.

"So, I can learn any kind of magic." I heard her mutter.

"After you activate your magic of course.", I reminded her.

Despite what I said, I felt happy for her. I knew why she was desperate to learn magic. Percy had sword for mid range, water powers for others and might learn Atlantean magic in the future. I had bow and arrows for long range, daggers for short range and magic to cover the gaps. Annabeth only had a tiny dagger. As long as the enemy stayed out of the stab range, she was useless. She must have been feeling left behind all the while. Having to be saved many times during the quest did not help. Grover at least had the excuse of being a non-combatant.

"What is the difference between your wizard magic and other kinds anyway?", she asked.

"Wizardry constitutes of all fields where using magic via wand is essential like Charms, Transfiguration. Witchcraft is basically what mortals believe a stereotypical witch does, Potions, Care of Magical creatures, Divination, flying on broomstick. My school is called Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry which means they teach both. It's an old definition of a time when wand usage was not as common. Nowadays, the terms 'witch' and 'wizard' are used to refer to the gender. For example, Salem Institute for Witches teaches wand arts too, but only to girls.", I replied, "One of the many factors that determine the power of a spell is the language of the incantation. The older, the better. That's the reason no one uses modern English in their spells. Sorcerers of Ancient Greece only needed incantation and intent as Ancient Greek was a very old language. Mystic codes, as we call the items enchanted with a certain purpose, were more of a convenience rather than a necessity. Then Greeks fell and Romans rose from its ashes. Along with our gods, they took our magic system for themselves. But, the latin translation of our spells turned out to be too weak. So, they created general purpose Mystic codes like staves to enhance their spell casting. Wands like mine only came into prominence after Christianity was made the official religion of Roman Empire or perhaps it was during the early days of Holy Roman Empire, I am not really sure about it."

"But, you can do it without a wand?", Annabeth asked.

"A few simple spells, yes."

"Is it because you have hybrid snake's venom and phoenix tears in your blood?"

I shrugged in response. I could see why she was asking that. It was quite well known that parts of magical creatures were used in making wands. It was one of the businesses that funded the camp. I was not sure how long it would continue to be the case now that Luke had unlimited supply and could undercut us.

I was quite a powerful witch, if I said so myself. I could intentionally do magic before Hogwarts and used it to terrorise Dursleys. While I noticed it was easier to cast wandlessly after my second year, it could be as much due to my unlocked divinity as it could be the ingredients.

"What about the magic circles Circe did? Was that another type of focus?", she asked.

"You are talking about astral focus. It requires at least expert level knowledge of Runes and Arithmancy. There is no worry about breaking or losing wands. But every time you cast a spell, you have to do all the calculations yourself which taxes your mind.", I said, "Perhaps, it will be suitable to you. We will never know until you unlock your magic."

I was not making a wild guess. Annabeth seemed to be the type of combatant with low reserves, considering the trouble she had activating it, but she had a terrifying enough mind that every slight expenditure was part of a greater strategy, like magical version of Nara clan.

"Yes, _Professor_ Iris"

Annabeth rolled her eyes in exasperation and went back to meditating.

X-X-X-X-X

After the chariot race

X-X-X-X-X

Grover announced that he would be able to spend the rest of the summer with us before resuming his quest for Pan. His bosses at the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he had not gotten himself killed and had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two-month fur-lough and a new set of reed pipes.

The only bad news: Grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, and his musical skills had not improved much. I was so glad I mastered the Silence bubble charm.

He played something Percy called "YMCA", and the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around our feet like they were trying to strangle us. From the little I heard before I cast the charm, I guess I could not blame them.

Grover told us he could dissolve his empathy link with Percy, now that they were face to face, but the stupid boy replied that he would rather keep it if that was okay with him. It was not a decision I personally agreed with but I respected his decision by keeping quiet

The gutsy satyr put down his reed pipes and stared at him. "But, if I get in trouble again, you'll be in danger, Percy! You could die!"

"If you get in trouble again, I want to know about it. And I'll come help you again, G-man. I wouldn't have it any other way."

In the end Grover agreed not to break the link. He later told me that he altered the link so that Percy would not suffer the backlash if the connection was cut from Grover's end, willingly or not. The connection weakened a bit but Grover did not complain about it. He went back to playing "YMCA" for the strawberry plants. I did not need an empathy link with the plants to know how they felt about it.

Another thing that happened was that Tyson was called by his father to intern at the underwater Cyclops forges. We would have preferred to give him a proper farewell but he wanted to leave quietly and we respected his wishes. He had a private talk with his brother before he left.

X-X-X-X-X

It had been my turn for the guard duty that night protecting the Golden Fleece. I sat on top of a branch with a clear view of the Fleece. A storm raged but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.

Then I spotted a movement by the Fleece and quickly brought out my bow and arrows. I could see that it was still safely bound to the tree. I looked around and found no one. I frowned. I slowly moved closer to the tree eagerly waiting to find something that was not as should be. Nothing. Thud. I instantly turned to see a girl lying on the ground by Thalia's tree.

I instantly send Patronii to Chiron and all cabins. I was not about to emulate some idiotic heroine or unimportant side character by walking into a trap. I would wait for the back up to arrive. Paranoid? It's not paranoia if they were really out to get you, it's caution.

Hermes kids were the first to arrive followed by Apollo kids. The moment I knew I was in their field of vision, I released a ball of light which flew higher and higher until it illuminated the entire surroundings. The series of gasps that followed revealed that they were seeing the same thing I was, a motionless Thalia, the daughter of Zeus.

I went towards her and patted her cheek. Real. I patted the trunk of the tree. Very real. I frowned. When I had heard Thalia's story, I had assumed that she was turned into a tree, you know, literally. It seemed she was just cocooned in one and had just come out of her metamorphosis.

I knelt by her side. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth-a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands I had never heard of. I wondered whether that was the fashion of mortals. Considering what wizards usually called fashion, I had no right to judge.

I dispersed my bow and arrows and put my hand on her forehead as I remembered from my first aid training. Her skin was cold, but my fingertips tingled as if they were burning. Was that what it was like for heroes in movies who were put in deep frost and taken out after 100-150 years?

I noted Chiron's arrival by the sound of his hooves but ignored it in favour of continuing what I was doing. I took her by the shoulders and lifted her into sitting position, resting her head on my shoulder. It was then that I realised that nobody had come forward to help her. I looked back at them and frowned on seeing them staring at Thalia intently.

I slapped my forehead when I realised exactly what was going on. Thalia grew up and her clothes...did not.

Her flat, smooth stomach was exposed for the world to see. Her T-shirt, which must have fitted her perfectly when she was scrawny and flat chested, was now about to tear apart at the seams due to the size of her breasts.

I would have realised the predicament soon had I not been desensitised to female nudity during my camping trip with the Hunters. After all, there was no bathroom or changing room in the Wild. We always bathed together in the river and changed clothes in the open. Artemis considered them bonding activities. According to her, it's when a woman was nude that she was the most open, most vulnerable, no lies, no pretences. Allowing someone else to see her like that was a show of utmost trust and someone seeing her in that state without her permission was violation of her dignity.

I instantly extinguished the light. They had enough of a show. Just then a ray of light pierced the darkness around us heralding the arrival of dawn as if Apollo had heard about the show going on and wanted to enjoy the sight himself. I took one of my school robes from my bag and wrapped it around her.

I frowned as I noticed that even after Thalia was decent, no one had come forward to help her, well, it was as if no one had moved at all. I looked at them and, yes, they were all real and were not petrified or replaced by an illusion. Yet, no one moved, not even Chiron. I did not blame Annabeth and Grover as they were quite close with the girl. The tears falling down their cheeks was enough of a indicator of their emotional state. I did not understand why the others were standing there gawking like idiots. As far as I know, none of them had seen Thalia before. While Chiron was old enough to have trained many daughters of Zeus and could note the resemblance, as far as the rest were concerned, she was supposed to be just another demigod who stumbled on to their camp.

"Come on!", I yelled at them, "What the hell are you people doing? Help me get her to the Big House."

Finally, someone came forward to help. It's Percy. For a moment, I wondered whether he volunteered himself to cop a feel and then banished those thoughts. I had known him for more than a year and he was not someone who took advantage of people like that. With him holding up the other side, we were able to lift her upto standing position.

Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes.

Her irises were startlingly blue-electric blue. The girl stared at us in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed.

"Who-"

"I'm Percy, she is Iris", he said in a calm, soothing tone. "You're safe now."

"Strangest dream ..."

"It's okay."

It seemed having Tyson for a younger brother had been good for him.

"Dying."

"No, Thalia" I assured her. "You're alive."

By the way, he started when I mentioned her name, I knew he now understood. What the Golden Fleece quest had been about. The poisoning of the tree. Everything. Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play-another chance to control the prophecy.

Even Chiron, Annabeth, and Grover, who should have been celebrating this moment, were too shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future. Yes, we were holding someone who was destined to be our best ally or worst enemy. But, all I felt was sympathy for her. She would have to live with the fact that the very people she gave her life for were reluctant to trust her and would walk on egg shells around her. I had had enough of that myself during the 'Heir of Slytherin' fiasco.

"I am Thalia," the girl introduced herself, more to Percy than me, "Daughter of Zeus."

X-X-X-X-X

I briskly walked towards the end, a girl on mission. Once I reached the cabin, I knocked on the door. I heard some shuffling, then the door opened and a head peeked out. A head with spiked hair, the one I was not sure was bed hair or her natural hair style. She seemed surprised to see me.

"Thalia, we are going on a shopping trip. Get ready quickly if you want to come along. It's not everyday that the Camp decides to sponsor a girl's shopping trip.", I said.

She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "The Camp is paying for all of us?"

"Nope. Just you. The technicalities are not that important. I am sure they would not mind if you felt generous enough to buy for all of us."

Her lips twitched upwards a bit, as if she was trying to smile or to not smile.

"You're right. Annabeth might come back any day. It's better I have some clothes on my own."

She closed the door and I waited. The day after Thalia had come out of the tree, Annabeth had finally managed to unlock her magic and along with it, an interesting ability. Telepathy was a wonderful ability if you could actually control it, which Annabeth could not. Hearing many loud voices inside your head was not a recipe to remaining sane. Last I heard, Athena took her off to Olympus for her training.

Thalia soon came out in what I recognized as Annabeth's dress.

"So, who all are 'we'?", she asked me.

"It's just both of us and Alison, a daughter of Aphrodite.", noticing her wild panic filled eyes I reassured her, "Don't worry. I will ensure that you don't end up all pink and glittery and princess-like."

"You better do your job well then, else, I will give you a proper shock therapy."

Considering the horrific possibilities involved, I did not take offense at her threat. I figured it would be her coping mechanism.

"So, how are you adjusting to your new life? Any problems?", I asked.

"It's different. I had a bit of a difficulty adjusting to my new body. Once I did, I realised I was much fitter than I used to be, much stronger, faster and had more stamina. If those ugly harpies and over grown dogs attacked me now, I could kick their asses back to Hades.", she added, "Not that I couldn't before but it's much easier. It was as if..."

"As if the Golden Fleece made your body to be as perfect as possible for a demigod of your age. I suspected something like that.", I said and she nodded in agreement.

"So, how did you get permission anyway? I doubt Chiron would let us go knowing how dangerous it's for us demigods outside.", she said.

"Oh! We are not going to the mortal world. We are simply going to one of the American wizarding society's market places.", I replied.

I knocked on the door and we were let in. When we entered, many of them looked at us for a moment and then went back to what they were doing. It was one of the new changes. Aphrodite kids, in general, changed their opinion of me from hostile to indifferent. I did not know why. Perhaps, recent monster attacks caused them to mature, which I seriously doubt, or they were tired of hating someone who just didn't care.

The inside of the cabin was as garishly pink as the outside. Everyone had their own little pocket of space which they had decorated based on their own tastes. I discretely looked around for any bed that was kept separately from the rest. There was a rumour about a special bed blessed by Aphrodite. Apparently, those who had sex with each other on that bed would be bound for life or something. It's said to be as good as a marriage blessed by gods. Considering Aphrodite's disaster of a marriage and turbulent love life, I did not put much stock into it.

"Wha-But..wizards? You are joking, right?"

"If gods and monsters can exist, why not wizards?"

I was not the one who answered it but the one we were waiting for. Alison Spencer was a beautiful girl with chocolate brown curls, slightly tanned skin, pert nose and walnut coloured eyes. She took a wand and twirled it around her. A robe suddenly formed from thin air and wrapped around her making any necessary adjustments on its own.

Yes, Alison was a witch who was studying in Salem Institute for Witches, a girls only school. From what I remember, she just completed the American version of OWLS, whatever it's called.

It was amusing to see Thalia looking gobsmacked, as if Alison had just come down from Mars. To be honest, it was not that big a feat. It was basically a conjuration of robe followed by first year Translocation charm. Just a simple parlour trick to impress. It's interesting to see that, rather than do two spells consecutively, she did it in one set of wand movements.

If ending of first spell and beginning of second spell had same wand movement, we could get away with doing it only once as long as all the movements of both spells are done without pause. It's called spell chaining and was necessary for those trying for Auror Corps or Duelling Tournaments to know as the split second advantage it gave could be crucial in high level combat. While her trick was beginner's stuff, the casual ease with which she did it was the indication that she was not a beginner.

"Remember, Thalia, wizarding world is a neutral zone. Monsters tend to leave you alone there because if they are killed there, they die like ordinary people rather than getting banished to Tartarus. If you are stupid enough to reveal your demigod powers, Mist can't cover it up as all wizards can see through it."

Seeing her face get paler, I knew she understood the implications. Many demigods had the habit of bemoaning the existence of the Mist for making mortals think they were compulsive liars, attention seekers or mentally ill. They conveniently forgot that the alternatives were being kidnapped and experimented on or hunted down for being dangers to society.

I noted, in amusement, that Alison neglected to mention she was one of the rare few demigods in the Camp skilled enough to use Mist to fool the wizards. There was a reason she was asked to escort us. If she was not going to reveal it, I would not either.

"Wait! Why are you telling only me and not her?", Thalia demanded pointing at me.

Alison looked at her, eyes full of innocence, "Surely, little Miss Huntress told you that she is like me, a witch."

Thalia glared at me, her eyes demanding an explanation and I sighed. "I never got to that part. Aren't we leaving?"

We soon found ourselves in front of a large mirror that spanned from the floor to the ceiling. I went through it knowing that Alison could help her better than I could. The market place was modelled after Alice in Wonderland, the second part. You could see that it was even built like a giant chessboard if you look at it properly. I noticed that the shops here were much more spread out compared to the squished appearance of Diagon Alley. There were lot of greenery between the shops. I was sure there was a garden somewhere inside. While there was no such thing as technomancy, as far as I knew, the magical world of America was heavily influenced by the culture of its non-magical counterpart due to the unusually high number of muggleborns born there, which in turn, was a side effect of the gods' heavy presence in the country.

Our market place, on the other hand, was built in the shape of 'E'. Knockturn Alley was the backbone that connected the other three streets : Diagon Alley, Sense Ally and Luxure Ally. Diagon Alley was the appropriate shopping avenue for ordinary wizards with good variety and reasonable prices. Knockturn Alley was the poor man's market. It was the shady place which had not only restricted and illegal items but also second hand items like books and wand. With slightly more money, it's possible to buy a wand that was not as good in quality or compatibility as an Ollivander wand or one time disposable ones, for less than honest purposes. Luxure Alley was basically for super rich like Malfoys who had no qualms about splurging. From what I understand, it has imported items like perfumes, boots made of basilisk hide or something equally rare. I heard rumours that they had wards that keep out anyone not in the list of theirs and having your name in it was like having first class tickets to World Cup final. Sense Alley was basically the magical Red Light Street.

After Alison and Thalia arrived, I let the former take the lead as she was the one who was familiar with the place. It was a good thing too. If there was any order in the way the shops were arranged, I could not see it. I would not talk in detail about all the different clothing items we checked out, just that it was as long and tedious as expected when a daughter of Aphrodite got involved. In addition, I managed to get a book on American Magical History for Hermione, one on magical creatures for Luna, one on indigenous herbs for Neville. An interesting fact was that other than the usual book store, which was similar to Flourish and Blotts, there was a cafe-cum-book store which allowed customers to read book while having tea/coffee and snacks for some extra price and buy them if they wanted to take the books home.

I did get other gifts for Fred, George, Angelina, Katie and Alicia though I decided not to get anything for Daphne as I was not really close to her. The Greengrass girl had approached me at the end of last school year and introduced herself to me. She was the direct descendant of the original Daphne who inherited the nymph traits. She wanted to repay the debt her ancestor owed my mother. It's not exactly the typical friendship offer but, I guess, things were done differently in Slytherin. I told her then that I would think about it and I still had not decided what to do with her yet.

By the time, we finished shopping, the Sun was close to setting. One of the advantages of shopping in magical world was that no matter how much shopping we did, we only had to carry one shopping bag per person. Hurray for the Extension charms. I was ashamed to admit that, despite my intention to curb her craziness, I ended up being brought into it myself. Alison somehow managed to convince me that, as a daughter of a noble family, I should have the appropriate attire. At least, I only bought dresses that I could stomach wearing, the ones without any inappropriate exposure of skin.

The outing served an important purpose though. I got a measure of Thalia. She was like Percy in many ways but unlike him in many other ways. She was not an academic genius like Annabeth but she was clever in her own way. A bit prideful but not arrogant. Despite being told that the place was safe, she never let her guard down. She always kept note of all entry and exit points and kept an eye on the people. Whenever we were near a non-human, she would always keep her hands near her weapons, hands shaking as if she was restraining herself from pulling them out. It seemed she would be a wonderful addition to the camp.

I was sure she knew what I was doing and was analysing me in return. The ones who lived a life like hers did not trust easily. I wondered what she had gleaned from me. It was a pity she did not remember anything from her time within the tree. I had really wanted to know what happened that time. One of the many questions she asked got me thinking though. Considering that our usage of electronics like phones acted like beacons to monsters, why had nobody made secure phones for us. After all, higher ups in government had secure lines to communicate about classified data, at least they did in the movies. Perhaps, it was meant to be a rhetorical question. Alison washed her hands off the matter by saying that it was not her area of expertise. I merely told her I would ask Annabeth after she returned.

X-X-X-X-X

Days passed by quickly and I was glad to see Thalia settling in. After Luke's relevation, we ended up in a kind of competition on finding and recruiting demigods. The satyrs alone were not enough for the task. As the majority of the satyrs would run off in search of their patron god right after their first successful quest, the few left searching for new demigods were inexperienced ones. So, we were given quests to bring them to the camp. For the ones in New York, we went solo and for others we went as a team. Most of the teams were pairs, a melee fighter and a ranged figher but there was an occasional team of trios.

I did a solo quest and a team quest with Percy. Both involved retrieving the demigod from their orphanage, though we use much more pleasant sounding names for the institution these days. From what I understood, all other formalities like paperwork was already taken care of. The solo quest was a bit of a scare as I arrived just in time to see an Empousa about to grab a bite of the poor girl's neck. Naturally, I dispatched it. Lacy was a delightful little thing whose enthusiasm was not dampened by something as small as a near death experience. The sheer amount of pink in the room and on her should have been enough of a clue about her parentage let alone her incredible sweet tooth. The moment she stepped foot on the Camp, she was claimed by Aphrodite. The team quest was to an institution dedicated to orphaned children of soldiers and sailors in Illinois. With the same black hair and sea green eyes as Percy, it was quite easy to convince them that Pearl was his long lost sister. I suspected she was Triton's way of showing support to the Olympians.

Thalia went on a quest with some Apollo guy though I did not know its details. Even Annabeth, after her return, went on a quest herself. I spent my free time sparing with others, sometimes it was Percy, sometimes Clarisse, Annabeth and even Thalia. While both of them were spear users, Clarisse and Thalia had different fighting styles, something I found interesting. Clarisse's style involved using her immense physical strength to swing around the spear and attacking with the sides of the shaft with occasional stabbing and slashing. One of her special moves involved bashing the ankle or back of knee with the bottom end of the shaft. Thalia was like the lightning she favoured, fast, precise and powerful strikes. She almost never attacked with the sides but she could twist and twirl the shaft and attack at such oblique angles that Clarisse simply could not replicate.

As I promised her, I asked around about Thalia's idea. I learned that Luke had kickstarted a similar initiative though it was more about internet than mobile. The plan fell by the way side for some reason, though some said Luke simply lost interest along the way. It was based around the fact that we demigods constantly leaked a little amount of divine energy and the monsters tracked us by the Mist produced due to it. Every time we use electronics like phones, the amplifiers in it amplified the leaked divine energy and sent it far and wide along with the message as electromagnetic waves, well at least that was what I understood from the explanation I was given, electronics was never my strong suit anyway. Considering the fact that hand cuffs made of celestial bronze with some enchantments could lock away a god's power, Luke theorised that electronics made of celestial bronze with similar enchantments would be safe for the demigods to use. In fact, we would not even need enchantments anywhere as strong or complex as we were dealing with a tiny fraction of demigod's power rather than the full power of a god. With proper planning, our leaking divine energy could be used as a power source for the electronics rather than just be locked away. Of course, the gods would be reluctant to share the information about the enchantments as we could use it against them later on. I hoped it was not what stumped Luke. It was not like we could not improvise and create our own enchantments. It was not talent or skill that we lacked but motivation. Considering that we were at standstill for other projects, a short term project would not be a bad thing.

X-X-X-X-X

It was on the eve of my birthday that something interesting happened. It started off as an ordinary day. I got up, brushed my teeth, yaada, yaada. When I went for breakfast, I heard whispers of a new camper but I ignored it. Newbies were not exactly in short supply these days. Then I spent the rest of the morning trying to churn out semi-competent archers from a group of 'dunderheads', as Snape would call them. It was when I was leaving after lunch that something interesting happened. There was a sudden pop sound and there in front of me was the house elf who planned a lot of 'accidents' for me to save me and eventually made amends with me. He looked different now wearing a proper uniform with a Black family sigil rather than the dirty pillow cloth he used to wear. Now that he no longer had a master who starved him, beat him up or forced him to punish himself in increasingly cruel ways, he looked healthier too.

"Great Iris Potter Lady, Dobby wishes you Happy Birthday!"

I looked around and saw that no one had seen or heard anything. I would have sighed if I had less self control. Instead, I merely took it in stride that Dobby was quite eccentric, even for an elf. His version of 'discrete' seemed to be shouting at the top of his lungs after casting an elf version of Notice me not charm, at least in regards to me. He was speaking with proper grammer at least even if he reffered to himself in third person.

"Thank you, little man", I replied ignoring the fact that my birthday was actually on the next day, "How are you doing?"

"Dobby is happy.", he said bobbing his head up and down, "Master Dogman offered Dobby ten galleons a week but Dobby beat him down. Dobby likes freedom, moon lady but Dobby isn't wanting too much. Dobby likes work much better."

I smiled amused. Giving Dobby to Sirius was one of my more brilliant ideas, if I said so myself. While Kreacher was really grateful for our help and was trying to be open minded, he was too old to accept new ideas. Dobby was a young elf whose had similar life experiences as Sirius, being different from the mold, growing up in abusive environment, escaping and finding sanctuary elsewhere, which made it easier for them to bond. I was sure he loved having an elf that his family, had they been alive, would not have approved of. Telling Kreacher that it was his responsibility to teach Dobby to serve the House of Black made him happy though his babbling about his head being mounted on a pike on the wall was a little creepy. To each their own, I suppose.

I gave Dobby a kid's socks causing his eyes to water and a large amount of praises to spew out of his mouth. I patted his head and let him go knowing that he had already placed all my gifts in my cabin. If Kreacher represented the past of the House of Black, Dobby represented its future.

That night, I opened everyone's gift keeping Sirius' for the last. I decided to read the letter from him first before opening his gifts.

 _Dear Iris,_

 _I hope this reaches you before your birthday. I am sorry that I prioritised my revenge over your welfare but I am glad to know you are happy. It was weird to see you all grown up and independent when my last clear memory of you was that of a little girl clinging onto my hair and calling me Pafoo. I guess, everyone else has moved on and I should too. I recently learned that I have a son. Me...a father? James and Lily must be laughing it up in whatever afterlife they are in now. I don't know anything about being a father, other than the, you know, the beginning part that makes me a father. As if it was not bad enough, the kid's like you. I don't know what to do. Azkaban had made me forget a lot of my memories and I only remembered that I used to date a chick called Hecate after I learned that I had a son. Surely, you can give me a few tips. You are living in a camp full of them. Anyway, everything that I sent with the letter is your birthday present. I know it might be a bit much but I missed thirteen birthdays. Let me make up for all of them._

 _Sirius_

I did not blame him for not taking me in. I had seen in the camp several results of people becoming single parents too young and not taking it well. From little I got from Annabeth, her parents blamed her for everything wrong that happened, Thalia's mother was full time drunk while Luke's mother was outright crazy. Apollo campers were all year long campers as they had nobody to care about outside. Well, you get the idea. Anyway, I was the last person who should be condemning others for going after revenge.

The bit about the discovered son was interesting. I knew that demigod pregnancies lasted the same duration as mortal ones, 8-9 months, as they were more mortal than god. I also knew that mortal men only learned of their fatherhood right after the birth of the child when the baby was handed to them by Zephyr or Hermes. That put conception within 8 months of Sirius' incarceration and birth after. Considering the age limit rules for Hogwarts, the boy should be 2 years below me and should have just completed the first year.

 _Dear Sirius,_

 _Congratulations! I know you will make a good father. The fact that you are worrying about it is a good sign. As for tips, I will give you four mantras: honesty, patience, understanding and acceptance. Be honest and forthcoming with each other. Don't use excuses like 'he is too young' or 'I don't want to burden him'. Even if he did not have dyslexia, ADHD is not easy to deal with. Patience is the key. Don't brush off his concerns or fears. They tend to be usually valid. Accept him for who he is. If you have any further questions, you can always ask help from Dumbledore. I am sure he would love to get to know his brother. Anyway, thanks for the gifts. I appreciate it._

 _Iris_

I kept away the letter to be sent off later on. I wished the father-son duo luck and opened my gifts. First was a parchment detailing a deed to an island close by. Apparently, it was owned by Blacks for a few centuries hidden under a specialised Fidelius with the head of the House Black as the secret keeper. When he gave me the gift, he transferred the secret to me and made me the Secret Keeper rather than simply revealing it. At least, the largest road block to creating our own city was gone. There would still be a huge expense but the land was large enough that I could tell the Athena children to let their imaginations go wild.

One important detail about the Fidelius charm was that it was the most secure when the Secret Keeper was neither the caster nor the ones being protected. In that case, the only ones who would know of it were the ones that Secret Keeper told with the intention of revealing it. No Legilimency, no Veritaserum, no spying. The Secret Keeper could shout it out but no one could learn it if he/she had no intention of revealing it. There was a reason my mortal parents opted for it. Sirius used to be the Secret Keeper in the beginning but after one too many close calls he decided he did not want to risk getting captured and breaking under torture. He suspected that Bellatrix knew some blood magic that allowed her to track anyone closely related to her by blood and first cousins were close enough.

The caster appointing themselves as the Secret Keeper was not that bad as long as they did not live in the protected area and only visited sporadically. If the protector and the ones being protected were the same, it opened up a lot of loopholes. Anything from a well placed Listening charms to someone hitchhiking a ride when you Apparate could reveal the secret. As there were no ways to predict what loopholes existed, you were leaving your protection to random chance. While it was known that the Secret Keeper could assign 'heir(s)' directly or through some criteria, simply transferring over the duty like Sirius did was something Lily had created/discovered and was kept secret between the four of them. It was the reason everyone believed Sirius was the traitor so easily.

The other one was the detailed notes on the preparation of Marauder's Map. It was created by 4 brilliant students who were proficient in different subjects. It first started with soaking a large enough roll of parchment in a medium level potion for a day and then drying it out in direct sunlight for another day to increase its magical retention. The potion itself required 10 days to make and required active channelling of magic into it at various steps, something that was beyond squibs and ordinary demigods. While we could make do with a lower level potion for the map itself, it would not be as adaptable.

Then there was a set of rune clusters to be carved on the back side of the parchment and charged. Then there were many enchantments to cast on it. According to Sirius, my father had done a research on the wizarding portraits and how to create them. He used it as a base and made necessary modifications to imbue it with the personalities of the Marauders so that they worked together rather than clashed horribly against each other. The Map shows a person even if they were invisible or animagus or Polyjuiced but a Marauder could hide themselves from it in such a way that only a fellow Marauder could spot them in the Map, a measure taken in case a Professor found it and managed to activate it. After all, there was a reason the Weasley twins never caught a supposedly dead wizard sleeping on the same bed as their little brother despite looking up the Map a lot of times for their pranks of which some of them were even on the said little brother.

Finally, there was a charm that should be cast on every room, helpfully called the Beacon charm. While simply connecting to the wards was enough for the Map to work, the Beacon charm was necessary if you wanted the accuracy and the level of details that Marauder's Map gave. Considering that the Mist transformations of monsters used the same principle as animagus or Polyjuice transformations, I knew that they would show up on the Map. It was similar for ordinary demigods as Filch could be seen on the Marauder's Map. After I finished going over everything, I was reasonable certain that I would be able to finish it before going to Hogwarts.

I spent the rest of the days making the Map with Annabeth, Lou Ellen and Alison. I was not sure how but somehow the daughter of Aphrodite learned about it and wanted in. Lou Ellen supported her by saying that it was better to have someone from both factions as it was a Camp matter rather than a private venture. I was not against it either as I knew that Alison, while a little flighty and vain, was a competent witch. I could tell Annabeth did not like it but she did not say anything in objection. It was a good thing too. The three of us had paid too much attention to the function and mechanics and not enough to the presentation. We left that part to her as she knew the best among us what looked good and what did not. It was her idea to code people depending on the cabin they belonged to, for demigods, or species, for wood nymphs and the like.

Percy visited us sometimes to check on us. He learned his lesson last time and applied early for the special arrangements. Thalia visited us too occasionally. She seemed quite fascinated by seeing magic at work and was unhappy to hear that she was too specialised to be good at it.

We then did the enchantments but, rather than use a password like original, we limited the access to everyone that the wards considered the residents of the Camp. To use it, the person had to state their name and cabin/specie. We did add the option of manually adding or removing people from the access list though. Just as we expected, we finished the Map before Alison and I had leave for our respective schools which ironically started on the same date. It was named Hero's Map and I hoped Lou Ellen would be able to make a similar one spanning the entire USA using Mist. It would be a great boon for our side.

On the last day of August, Alison and I left the Camp patting the head of Peleus, the new guardian of the Golden Fleece, on the head while we passed. We had become friends after working on the Map together for days. We promised each other to remain in contact and activated our respective Portkeys, hers for Salem Institute and mine for the airport. After I was cleared by the customs, I boarded the plane. England, here I come.

X-X-X-X-X

You know, in canon, Rick Riordan told us that Thalia grew older by three years within the tree. I am a guy. So, I don't know much about girl's puberty but I know they tend to have their growth spurt earlier than guys. From what I know, 12-15 years is when they have their highest growth spurt which tapered off until it ends around 18 years. So, unless her clothes grew with her, there should have been some ... wardrobe malfunctions. Considering their innate lustful nature, I can't see gods doing anything to preserve her modesty. I guess RR avoided mentioning it so that story is readable to children.

I explained Fidelius charm as well as I could from all the hints JK Rowling left in her books. It's a better explanation for the reason the Potters did not put one of them as Secret Keeper than manipulative/evil Dumbledore. It's acceptable for a house in the middle of nowhere, too new for anybody to know and rarely visited. It's another thing when Voldemort himself decided that finding it was top priority.

Though looking it over reminded me of how JK has shown Dumbledore as at least downright irresponsible as a leader. I mean, the guy plots his own murder with his Death Eater spy for a year and doesn't bother to inform the others what to do after his death, like who the next leader of OOTP would be. Then again, people write entire stories to highlight the ridiculous things in the series.


End file.
